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Upper St. Clair German-American exchange marks 25 years

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 4 min read
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Twenty-five years ago, everyone who had grown up with Germany split into two different nations still was getting used to reunification.

With one flag flying over what for 45 years had been East and West, Deanna Baird worked on a way for students in her advanced German classes to be able to travel there. Working with fellow teacher Hans Selbach in town of Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baird started the German-American Partnership Program at Upper St. Clair High School.

“The reason we liked the idea initially was that Leverkusen is the home of Bayer, and we always have some people from Bayer in this area,” she said about the multinational corporation that for years had a base of operations in Robinson Township. “So therefore, the community recognized the quality of the kids who would be coming. It was a good fit.”

HarryFunkMultimedia Reporterhfunk@thealmanac.nethttps://thealmanac.net/content/tncms/avatars/1/54/1d2/1541d2b0-76f8-11e7-8717-57b252e7be12.c3c204fabe438b35fae5a2a852073b79.png

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Deanna Baird retired after 43 years with Upper St. Clair School District.

The first leg of the latest exchange wrapped up just before the end of October, when 26 students returned to Germany after three weeks in Upper St. Clair. During a going-away party, Oskar Schlitt discussed his first visit to the United States.

“It seems like everything is much bigger,” he observed. “That’s the first thing I see. And the second is that in the school, there are more activities you can do, like the school has its own rugby team and American football team. Generally, we don’t have these teams. You have to go to a club when you want to do a specific sport.”

The Upper St. Clair students will travel to Leverkusen at the conclusion of their academic year, as German schools continue into the summer. Senior Laura Lapham looks forward to the trip, including the prospect of speaking a different language.

“We just learn the grammatical, proper form of German. We don’t learn all the slang, for example,” she said. “So that’s going to be a hurdle to get over. I’ve heard the Leverkusen kids speak German to each other, and there are occasionally moments where it’s like, that was a slang word!”

Kaitlyn Kanas, a junior, spoke about communicating with the exchange student who stayed with her family.

“I will sometimes speak German to her, but I don’t think it’s as fair if I speak more German here than I should over there, because she needs to get the experience of English,” she explained.

“Such a nice group,” she added about the students in general. “All of them are so well-behaved, like any good kid would be, and you can tell they were brought up right.”

Laura agreed.

“They’re nice, sweet, and fortunately, they’re fun people,” she said. “And that’s awesome.”

The exchange continues after Baird’s retirement following 43 years with Upper St. Clair School District. Taking over leadership are high school staff members Uwe Schneider, Hanna Rennhoff and Lynne Kopaz.

“From our last exchange, I’m not in touch with a lot of the students,” Kopaz said. “Just of the ones I’ve heard from, they have all arranged additional trips back and forth with their hosts in Germany. One of them told his parent, ‘We’re like brothers now.’ It’s something that they’re going to always have, this relationship with someone across the sea. It’s great.”

Traveling with the Leverkusen group were teachers Margot Schloemer and Tim Ortelbach.

“It all has to do with cultural awareness with international learning, and in a globalized world, languages are the basis,” Schloemer said. “If you can communicate today, then you will be the leader of tomorrow.”

About her students, she also observed that they are learning how to treat other people and react in different situations.

“That is what we need in our future, and that is what we stand for, we language teachers,” she said.

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