Buffalo High School’s Senior, Kayla Schimmele, won a CLA (College of Liberal Arts) Dean’s Scholar – College in the Schools German Award.
The CLA Dean’s Scholar – College in the Schools German Award provides $3,000 per year for up to four years. Students who are previous participants in the College in the Schools (CIS) German program and who plan to major in German are considered based on high school performance, test scores, indicated financial need, and teacher recommendation. One of the requirements for keeping the award for the full four years is declaring and remaining a German major.
Kayla decided to apply for this scholarship because after going to Germany with the German American Partnership Program (GAPP) last summer, she feel in love with the language, the culture and the country itself. It was a life-changing opportunity that made me want to continue my German in college.
German Teacher Michele Strassburg wrote the letter of recommendation for her, which the University said was very persuasive.
The application was due mid January. She filled the scholarship out a week before it was due. ” After I filled it out, Strassburg came to me a few weeks after the deadline and was freaking out explaining that they didn’t have my application,” said Senior Kayla Schimmele.
Well, with some begging, Strassburg told the U of M about the incident and considered them to look over her late application.
” It was kind of funny how much she worried about it,” Kayla said.
She thought that since her application was late, they wouldn’t take her scholarship into consideration. Later she found out a huge surprise one day.
She found out that she had won the German scholarship on Friday March 25.
“I got off of work a little after seven and I saw I had a new voicemail. Once I heard it was Rick McCormick (the Professor & Chair Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch) proudly announcing that I was selected for the scholarship my first thoughts were, “Seriously? WOW!… I actually got it?!” she said.
Later in the message he explained how he was going to inform her instructor, Ted Anderson, that she won.
“The rest of the way home I couldn’t help but smile,” Kayla explained.
That following Monday she went into Strassburg’s room and simply asked, “Did you get a certain letter or an e-mail by chance about the German Scholarship? Or do you know who Ted Anderson is because I got a voicemail saying I got the scholarship, but my instructor was Ted.” They resolved the issue and were estatic about the scholarship.
Kayla was recognized for the CIS scholarship on April 21, 2011, at the U of Mn CIS German Field Day
“I’m not the smartest person in the world and I never will be, but I always strive to do my best in school. Standing on stage, I realized that hard work really does pay off, ” Kayla said.
Kayla would like to say thanks to Mrs. Strassburg:
Thinking back to the letter of recommendation they read, I feel as though I can’t thank Frau enough for everything she’s done for me since the day I first stepped foot in her German 2 class. She’s the reason why I’ve made it this far and the reason I actually won the scholarship. I’m really happy– well more happy than I normally am– that I won this because I felt like it was a good way to show my teachers what great impacts they really have on me.
