51 GASOP Workshops Bring Transatlantic Exchange to Schools Across Saxony and Thuringia
The German-American Institute Saxony has successfully completed 51 workshops at schools across Saxony and Thuringia this year. DAIS’s German-American School Outreach Program (GASOP) places Fulbright ETAs from the United States in German classrooms, where they share firsthand perspectives on American culture, politics, and society. GASOP fosters authentic dialogue and deepens mutual understanding between young Germans and Americans at a pivotal moment for transatlantic relations.
From vocational schools in rural southern Thuringia to secondary schools in the greater Dresden area, GASOP fellows reached 944 students in total. In Sonneberg, a town long shaped by its proximity to the former East-West border, GASOP fellow Rhiannon Wilkinson led three back-to-back sessions at the Staatliche Berufsbildende Schule Sonneberg, speaking with 150 students about the American political system, regional identity, and immigration. Students reflected on how Germany's own East-West divide still resonates in their lives today. In Wilsdruff, Saxony, GASOP fellow Sophia Ellerkmann guided students at the local Gymnasium through the national parks of her home state of California. As Kira Graves noted, a student in her workshop at Freie Fachoberschule Meißen “had visited my home town in Arcadia, California for a spring break trip!”
Beyond the classroom, the program also incorporated historical and political learning. GASOP fellows visited the Kaßberg Prison Memorial in Chemnitz, guided by a local educator and recent Fulbright alumnus. The memorial, which historically served as a detention center throughout the twentieth century, is perhaps best known as the transit point for the GDR’s buy-out program. Through the Kaßberg site, thousands of political prisoners were ransomed and transferred to West Germany during the Cold War. The visit left a lasting impression on participants and underscored the importance of transatlantic education.
The program year was marked by a formal convening at the Alter Senatssaal of Leipzig University in May, where Rector Prof. Dr. Eva Inés Obergfell and DAIS chair Prof. Dr. Katja Kanzler delivered opening remarks. Titled "Transatlantic Exchange in Challenging Times," the event brought together GASOP fellows, current and former members of transatlantic exchange programs, as well as other guests for conversation and reflection on the personal and social sides of German-American relations.
Photos: Corinna Mehl
We wish our GASOP fellows all the best as they move forward. We are grateful for their commitment to transatlantic dialogue and their willingness to represent the United States in classrooms in Eastern Germany. We hope this experience stays with them as much as it will with the students they met.