Category: Languages, Literatures and Cultures
German students give back
May 14, 2025 Written by CAS Communication Staff
Students and faculty of UD’s German program joined with other volunteers on Saturday, April 26, 2025, to assist the Sister Cities of Wilmington at their annual flower planting session in the Sister Cities Garden in Brandywine Park in Wilmington. The five gardens celebrate the friendship and association of Wilmington and its sister cities in Fulda, Germany; Kalmar, Sweden; Osogbo, Nigeria; Olevano sul Tusciano, Italy; and Nemours, France.
Two of the students, Katia Hehn and Matthew McKay, received the 2025 Sister Cities scholarship to attend the Fulda International Summer University, which runs July 7-August 2. The scholarships are awarded by Wilmington Sister Cities and the Delaware Saengerbund to assist two outstanding German students by covering the cost of a roundtrip flight to Germany. The city of Fulda and the German-American Women’s Club of Fulda fund tuition and housing for the program.
Hehn, an honors senior who is pursuing the 4+1 in mechanical engineering major and has minors in German and mathematics, is from Evesham, New Jersey. McKay is a freshman political science major from Port Deposit, Maryland. The deserving recipients gladly helped out at the flower planting event to show their appreciation for the continued support that the Sister Cities have shown to students of the German program at UD.
Tom Vail, UD German Club board member and DLLC student ambassador, also attended the flower planting. The political science major from Matawan, New Jersey, has minors in German and public policy. He described the event as a rewarding experience and encouraged other German Club members to participate in the future. UD German professor Ester Riehl said that the students’ “hard work provided a concrete demonstration of how much we appreciate the support we get from the Sister Cities Committee.”
Retired UD assistant professor of German Iris Busch, who serves as Sister Cities of Wilmington’s vice president for Fulda, Germany, attended the event. On behalf of the organization’s board of directors, she voiced her gratitude to the students for their support and hard work. If you’re in Wilmington in the springtime, be sure to stop by the gardens and enjoy the flowers, which are replanted each year and represent the colors of the respective sister cities' national flags.
