Kenmore West senior, Jacob Laud, has been accepted into the highly competitive Congress - Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program for next year. This scholarship program is sponsored through the German and American governments and places students from across the United States into German communities to live in a German family and attend a German high school for 10 months. The U.S. reciprocally welcomes German students annually as well.
The idea of the program is to give students a chance to engage in another culture with the hope of building a stronger relationship between the two nations. The scholarship is valued at over $50,000 and there are only 250 students selected nationwide. All candidates were pre-screened after submitting extensive applications and finalists completed two interviews: an individual interview with the CBYX Selection Committee and a group interview with some of the other peer candidates.
“I’m so proud of students for stepping outside their comfort zone and deciding to spend a year abroad," teacher Matt Gabel said. "It takes a lot of courage to go against the grain of the traditional high school to college career learning path, but travel and cultural experiences are often far more valuable than any classes they can take. A year abroad puts them light years ahead of their peers in terms of maturity, global citizenship and career readiness.”
Jacob will get to spend some time in Washington with the other scholarship winners, where he will meet with Congressmen and get some behind-the-scenes tours before departing for Germany in early August. Once in Germany, Jacob will attend a month-long language camp with exchange students from all over the country. In early September, Jacob will finally get to meet his host family and attend his first classes as a German student. As a CBYX student, Jacob will also be invited to Berlin to meet with some members of Parliamentt and participate in several other exclusive trips throughout the year.
Jacob will join a strong cohort of Kenmore students who have participated in the CBYX program. In fact, Jacob will be the 6th CBYX scholarship recipient from Kenmore West in the past five years. Recent participants include Lauren Gradzewicz (19-20), Karli Schmidt (22-23), James Weeks (23-24), Vanessa Tarpy (24-25) and Hailey Thompson (24-25). Lauren has made several trips back to Europe since her CBYX year and is currently working on her Master’s Degree at the University of Cologne. Thirteen current Kenmore East and West students and their German teachers were able to catch up with current CBYXers, Vanessa and Hailey, while visiting the Eastside Gallery in Berlin in April as part of their two-week-long biennial exchange with their partner school in Zuelpich, Germany.
