Hallo! My name is Ian Steele, a senior double majoring in computer science and cognitive science, with minors in religious studies and ancient Greek and Roman studies; I am set to graduate in Spring 2025. 

Looking back, I started learning German with GRMN103 because, even though engineers don't need to, I thought "why not learn a new language?" Only two semesters later, I found myself studying abroad in Leipzig. The following fall, I completed my German for Engineering Certificate, only 3 courses shy of a German Minor.

As a lover of German music and philosophy, Leipzig -- the "city of music," felt more familiar than foreign. We visited the Thomaskirche, where J.S. Bach served as Cantor, got to explore the birthplace of Richard Wagner, and like Friedrich Nietzsche and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, studied at the Universität Leipzig. I still vividly remember traveling around Saxony -- especially Dresden, a beautifully haunting city which anyone who has read Slaughterhouse-Five will appreciate -- and of course Berlin. Maybe it was the food or the sense of adventure, but I had never felt so alive. 

This unforgettable experience motivated me to apply to the 2025-2026 CBYX for Young Professionals program, a fully funded, state-sponsored and year-long exchange program in Germany. After months of anticipation, I am proud to be one of 65 Americans selected to study and work in Germany, and I’m looking forward to beginning the program at the end of July. I believe my engineering background made me stand out in the application process, as the program seeks applicants from diverse academic and professional fields.

If you are a student here at UD, I genuinely recommend you try German. For me, keeping a balance of STEM and humanities classes in general has not only satisfied my curiosity and kept me grounded, it has led me away from a provincial mindset. Whether you are into foreign cultures, engineering, or anything German, consider taking German classes as I did through the German for Engineering Certificate. If there is any doubt, any inhibition at all, I say tear down that wall.