In her school, Sarah is part of the Make a Difference Club and Diversity Club. She joined the Make a Difference Club for the opportunity to volunteer and make a difference in her school community. One of her activities with the club is organizing a prom for students living with disabilities. The Diversity Club gives her the chance to teach people about Germany and German culture. She loves sharing about her country and answering questions about Germany. For the club’s annual food day, she prepared a traditional German cake with her grandmother's recipe which was shared alongside dishes from Pakistan, Greece, and Japan.
Sarah also shares German culture with her host family. She made German bread for her host family’s Thanksgiving celebration. Sarah says that the Thanksgiving meal was delicious and adds, “Spending time with my host mom and her family during Thanksgiving was the moment I realized I found a second family in the United States.” Sarah also joined her host family’s Christmas festivities and wants to bring the Phillips’ family tradition of wearing matching pajamas when opening gifts back to Germany.
During International Education Week, Sarah shared about Germany with as many community members as possible. In fact, she conducted more than 14 presentations focused on the differences between the U.S. and Germany. Outside of her presentations, Sarah also discussed Germany’s role in World War II in her history class.
Sarah has completed over 100 hours of community service hours. Her volunteer service includes packing food and hygiene products for students in need, helping at an assisted living home, and volunteering at the free store, a place where people can select clothes, toys, and other items at her host mother’s Methodist church.
Attending church is a new experience for Sarah, and she notes, “The church community are the nicest people, and I love going to church with my host mom.” She also went with a neighbor to a Lutheran church and celebrated Eid with her Pakistani friend.
Sarah aims to become a diplomat and believes that the skills she’s developing throughout her exchange will help her achieve this goal. She says, “I’m learning how to listen to other people and understand people from different cultures.” She continues, “Being an exchange student is helping me tear down preconceptions and helping me realize I have a lot to learn from people with different backgrounds than me.”
Congratulations, Sarah!
