Other teachers are representing many parts of the state, including Grand Forks, Fargo, Rock Lake, Milnor, Heddinger, and Fairmount. The group flew out of Minneapolis on Friday April 4, and will return on the 18. They first made a stop in Amsterdam before going arriving in Hannover, and from there will travel to Hildeschein, Berlin, Dresden, Freiburg, and Frankfurt before returning to the States. Throughout this intensive, two-week program, the group will be visiting with German political and business leaders, and they will have many opportunities to discuss common challenges with German students and teachers.
The study is sponsored by Atlantik-Brucke, a Berlin-based private non-partisan organization that seeks to strengthen understanding of Germany in the United States. The North Dakota School Boards Association and the Department of Public Instruction are cooperating partners, and funding was also provided by the 2007 Legislative Assembly.
Project Director Jon Martinson said the application process was very competitive and that it was mainly based upon essay questions which applicants sent to the School Board Association, and based upon their responses, eight were chosen.
"We are delighted to have Kari as a part of this trip. She was chosen because of the excellent answers she gave us as part of her application," said Martinson. "The teachers we chose represent a wide range of ages and experience levels, but all of them were picked as a result of outstanding applications." They will be learning about various parts of German history and visiting a Holocaust memorial and a Jewish museum, and will tour an Allied museum in Berlin. They will visit with and participate in roundtable discussions with German ministers from a few different regions. The group will also meet with members of German parliament, and visit with businesspeople at Deutsche Bank.
"This program has been tailored for the nine of us that will be going," said Martinson. "A lot of other programs collaborate with larger groups when they arrive in country, but this trip will include just the eight that were chosen to participate in addition to myself."
This will be his second trip to Germany as part this program, as he accompanied a similar group in 2006. He said that the high point of the last trip was visiting with students and teachers at various German schools, and that this will most likely be an essential part of this trip as well.
The group will visit Holocaust memorials in Germany which will provide them with insights into contemporary Germany's efforts to maintain awareness of its past. Their knowledge will be broadened with information about Germany's postwar development, the division between East and West, unification, and Germany's role in the ongoing process of European integration.
"It's really an incredible experience, and we were able to travel all over the country," said Martinson. "We will be able to see the difference between what was formerly East Germany and the rest of the country, and in particular the differences in architecture."
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