AHS students junior William Duimstra, junior Dmitriy Lando, junior Nathaniel Moore, senior Nicholas Nelson, senior Rachel Faessler, senior Grace Erdman, and senior Erich Manter all received recognition in the 67th Annual German Language and School Essay Contest on May 1st. 

It was possible through Wisconsin’s DSSV program and national AATG organizations. 

This year, 584 students entered the AATG test, and 392 essays were sent in. 

 The prompt was in German but translated into English, it reads: ‘What do you like especially much about your home state of Wisconsin? What do you not like about Wisconsin?  Why?”

The essays had to be hand-written in a 5-paragraph format and about 1-2 pages in length.

Students in German 3 and German 4 voluntarily participated in this competition.

Everyone in the class wrote in a 40-minute class period, but after they had completed the assignment, students that desired to enter the competition sent in their essays.

The essays were due on February 15, 2022. 

DSSV will be sending approximately $30,000 in cash prizes and four study trips to Germany to students from Wisconsin.

Faessler wrote about liking being able to be close to the rest of her family in Wisconsin, but disliked the cold weather and being so far away from ideal vacation spots.

Faessler was invited to a ceremony where she will be awarded a prize.

Faessler said, “ I wasn’t exactly shocked because I had finished the essay feeling like I did well for my level of German, but I was really proud of my work.”

Faessler credits her ability to comprehend English and German writing rules to put together an essay.

Faessler said, “The first time I had written an essay in German this year, I had realized that I was using a lot of concepts I had learned in English classes about how to structure my time, plan out my thoughts, and develop a theme that leaves the reader with a particular feeling.”

“It was surprising to me at the time because it felt like English and German classes inhabited entirely separate worlds, but in hindsight, it makes perfect sense that one way of using language would help the other.”