{"id":27240,"date":"2019-05-02T14:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T19:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=27240"},"modified":"2019-05-02T13:39:46","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T18:39:46","slug":"apsu-student-sara-alexander-receives-exchange-scholarship-to-german-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/05\/02\/apsu-student-sara-alexander-receives-exchange-scholarship-to-german-university\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU student Sara Alexander receives exchange scholarship to German university"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Sara Alexander, an Austin Peay State University (APSU) graduate student recently received an award to attend one of the oldest and most highly ranked universities in Europe this summer.<\/p>\n

Alexander, who is finishing up a master\u2019s in history and a master\u2019s in teaching, will attend Germany\u2019s Heidelberg University<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University student Sara Alexander<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The opportunity comes through the German Academic Exchange Service<\/a> (better known by the German acronym DAAD).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so surprised and grateful,\u201d Alexander, who also has a bachelor\u2019s in history and minors in German and geology, said. \u201cI love traveling. I got a scholarship to do what I love, which is learning and traveling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specifically, Alexander will attend the International Summer School of German Language and Culture to study \u201cGermany: Myths, Realities, Perspectives.\u201d Classes will include exercises and seminars on current literary and social topics and lectures on German language, culture and civilization.<\/p>\n

The school also provides social activities such as cultural workshops, concerts, sporting events, local excursions and weekend trips.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an international course with students from all over,\u201d Alexander, who hopes to soon teach German in the United States, said. \u201cI love getting to know students from other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Competitive Award, Learning German<\/h3>\n

Dr. Cameron Sutt, chair of the Department of History & Philosophy, noted Heidelberg has produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other German university and is the top-ranked college in the country (47th<\/sup> in the world), according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DAAD is very competitive, and we are quite proud of Sara,\u201d Sutt said.<\/p>\n

Alexander thinks her motivation statement to the program helped her win the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to be a German teacher, so I just wrote about that and how I would love to spread my appreciation for German to other students because it opens up a culture of movies and music, things you can access,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Alexander has been to Europe before: As an undergraduate at Austin Peay, she traveled to Austria during a study abroad exchange.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Austria it was just amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cI had had only one year of German, but as soon as I went there, my speaking ability just skyrocketed.\u201d<\/p>\n

She hopes to refine her German even more and return to take the German Praxis test.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a busy, poor student for so long, I\u2019m eager to start a career in teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

TO LEARN MORE<\/strong><\/p>\n