RHS Students Win All-Expenses-Paid Study Trips To Germany

RADNOR, PA — Two Radnor High School German students recently won all-expenses-paid summer study trips to Germany for their scores in a national German language test.

Freshman Eleanor "Nora" Graves and junior Annabel Zhao won the trips due to their excellent performances on the 2019 National German Exam, the Radnor Township School District said.

Graves and Zhao are just two of 44 students selected from across the country by the National Committee of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG). This is the first time that two RHS students have earned the opportunity in the same year.

For more than 50 years, the Federal Republic of Germany, through the Auswärtiges Amt and its Pädagogischer Austauschdienst, has provided the AATG Study Trip Awards, a three- to four-week summer trip to Germany.

After qualifying with a score above the 90th percentile on the National German Exam, Graves and Zhao each submitted responses to several short essay questions in German and in English and were then interviewed by a committee comprised of high school teachers and college professors of German.

“This year’s prize winners are some of the finest students in the US,” said Keith Cothrun, Executive Director of the AATG. “The prize is a great reward for excellence in learning German—and the best way to better get to know a fascinating language and culture through firsthand experiences living with a German family and attending school.”

The study trip includes round‐trip air transportation to Germany from New York, a homestay in a host family, and excursions to places of cultural and historical significance. The trip, now in its 60th year, is made possible through a grant from the Federal Republic of Germany.

Zhao and Graves are two of nine RHS German students who scored above the 90th percentile on the 2019 exam and earned a gold medal.

Adrienne Cheung, Abby Frishman, Priya Ganesh, Sasha He, Anna Iaramboykov, Casper Lambregts and Nick Speranza were also awarded top honors. Jesse Conen, Chapin Lenthall-Cleary, Audrey Rasmussen, Sean Seibel, Julia Shi and Alex Storrer earned Silver. Preston Breck, Tessa Klimowicz, Kyra Lee, Isabella Lo, Jack Undercolfer and Aaron Zhu earned bronze