Diversity commitment

College, Mille Lacs Band celebrate collaboration

By Steve Waller, Public Information Specialist, Central Lakes College
Central Lakes College and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe celebrated their higher-education collaboration as the spring term began on the Brainerd campus of the community and technical college.
In partnership with the Mille Lacs Tribal College, more college classes and support services are earmarked for members of the Mille Lacs Band. That’s important, said Marge Anderson, chief executive officer of the Mille Lacs Band, at the start of a day-long event Jan. 6.
“Across the state of Minnesota, the graduation rate for American Indian high school students is 41 percent,” she said. “Finally, we have partners at the table who not only take notice to the crisis in education in Indian Country- we have you in the circle with us.”
Anderson said the day was “about changing the face of education in Central Minnesota” for tribal students especially. “It is about partnership and collaboration.”
She cited examples of a long history of cooperation between the college and the band – redeveloping the tribal college, casino management programs, developing the college’s Humphrey Center for American Indian Studies, tribal economic summits, TRiO/Upward Bound programs in schools, customized training for departments in tribal government, and hosting a summer camp for future American Indian business leaders.
Anderson said she supports initiatives such as an American Indian nursing program, spring pow-wow or dance exhibition, an early-May American Indian education summit near Brainerd, and building a stronger Indian studies program.
“I hope that as you further develop this program, you keep language revitalization, history, cultural and community development at its core,” she urged. “It is imperative that our students are affirmed in learning how to live in both worlds and gaining skills in each to develop self-sufficiency and continue to help our people.”
She said Central Lakes College is providing the foundation from which band members can build self-confidence and break the cycle of poverty.
“Together we can build self- sufficiency and pass the value of cultural and Western education onto the next generations,” she concluded.
Other speakers included Dr. Larry Lundblad, CLC president; Dennis Olson, commissioner of education for the Mille Lacs Band; David Isham, access and opportunities specialist with the Office of the Chancellor (Minnesota State College and Universities); Charles Black Lance, CLC director of TRiO/Student Support Services; Mary Sam, CLC director of diversity; and a keynote address by Jennifer Godinez, associate director of Minnesota Minority Education Partnership.
The workshop day for faculty and staff at CLC began with the Nay Ah Shing drum group with honor songs introduced by Jack Kingbird, Ojibwe language and culture instructor.
Presentation topics included “Working with and Engaging American Indian Learners,” “CLC Diversity Update,” and “Building Pathways of Success for Students of Color and Low-Income Youth.”

New course

University expert to teach new fruits and vegetables class
By Steve Waller, Public Information Specialist, Central Lakes College
A former University of Minnesota horticulturist will teach the new Fruits and Vegetables course offered at Central Lakes College in Brainerd when the spring term begins Jan. 10.
Mervin Eisel has written numerous reference guides for growers of woody plants, garden perennials and other horticultural topics. The associate professor emeritus has taught course for the university through its St. Paul campus and also at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
He officially retired in 1992 but Eisel said he is “still working as hard as ever, once an educator always an educator.” He was with the university 34 years and, in retirement, has enjoyed 19 giving advice whenever asked.
“I give out a lot of information when I participate in farmer’s markets,” he said from his home south of Brainerd. “In my career I’ve talked to groups at all levels, from youths to amateur horticulturists to Master Gardeners.”
Growing vegetables for as long as he can remember, Eisel uses whatever means available to teach the curious what to grow and how. “For a while I was on TV more than I ever watched it,” he said, recalling career moments.
His live audiences have ranged from a handful of hosta enthusiasts to 900 people learning about ornamental horticulture.
His landscape favorites at home include azaleas, magnolias, hostas, and yellow peonies. “I think I have 150 azaleas, some as tall as eight feet, in the yard,” he said.
The three-credit CLC class is focused on helping individuals learn to grow quality produce for a family, and Eisel said he will touch on the nutritional value of various vegetables. “There are principles that apply to whatever you grow,” he noted. “Organic matter, fertilizer, soil types, starting seeds, watering -- these are the same factors in all field of horticulture.”
Garden site selection is important, he said. Pruning is a consideration. He will revisit some of the subjects of his publication projects. Two of those are “The Right Tree Handbook” (1991) and “Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Minnesota Landscapes” (1997).
Eisel will tap his knowledge as a member of the American Hosta Society and the Minnesota Herb Society to educate students in the three-credit CLC class, which is capped at 30 participants.
“I am willing to learn from the students too,” he said, expecting students in the college’s degree program along with growers from the area who “simply want to grow the best vegetables and herbs they can.”
For details about HORT 1300 - Fruits & Vegetables, the evening class schedule once each week, e-mail Admissions@clcmn.edu or call the college Admissions office (218) 855-8037 (toll-free 800-933-0346, ext. 8037).
New students can learn more at http://www.clcmn.edu/new/enrolling/

State honor

Mary Sam receives state human rights award
By Steve Waller, Public Information Specialist, Central Lakes College
Mary Sam, Director of Diversity and Student Affairs at Central Lakes College, is a 2010 recipient of the Minnesota League of Human Rights Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions concerning human rights issues.
Described as a “seasoned activist,” Sam received the award Dec. 3 from the Minnesota League of Human Rights Commissions at the Minnesota Department of Human Rights Conference at the Crowne Plaza in St. Paul. This is the second such statewide honor for Sam. She was the recipient of the 1997 League of Human Rights Commissions Award for her distinguished service at Armstrong High School in Plymouth.
The league may present the award to an individual or organization for outstanding effort to protect or enhance human rights in the state. Among previous winners is the Mille Lacs Area Human Rights Commission (2005), the first regional human rights commission to include an American Indian Reservation. Sam helped form that organization.
“This is a great honor and acknowledges Mary’s many contributions in helping to make Minnesota and this area a better place in which to live and work,” said Dr. Larry Lundblad, president of Central Lakes College, Brainerd and Staples.
“Students, faculty, and staff at Central Lakes College benefit from the leadership, vision, passion, and experience that she brings to her position as Director of Diversity. It is great that she had been recognized for her statewide efforts.”
Here is what the league said in presenting the award:
“Mary Sam brings passion, commitment and activism to issues of human and civil rights. Mary is intolerant of intolerance. Her activist role began as a high school student in the metro area where she led efforts to resolve issues of justice and equality in constructive ways.
“In the early ’90s Mary produced ‘Daring to be Different: A Vision of Diversity,’ which is a documentary video on race relationships.
“Her Mille Lacs focus began in 2001 when she took on the role of Government Affairs and Community Relations Coordinator for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
“She organized ‘Voices of Unity’ at Mille Lacs in 2003 with local clergy, spiritual leaders and tribal elders.
“Mary understands that a community’s life blood is built on relationships, improved communication and understanding and being understood.
“It took Mary several years of dialogue with community leaders before she was able to facilitate the foundation of the Mille Lacs Area Human Rights Commission in 2005. She secured the support of the cities of Garrison, Isle and Onamia, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, schools including Isle, Onamia, and Nay Ah Shing, along with the Mille Lacs Band’s Corporate Commission, Mille Lacs Health System, the Crosier Community, Mille Lacs Academy, and local law enforcement agencies in forming a partnership with all signing human rights ordinances.
The Mille Lacs Area Human Rights Commission is the only commission in Minnesota, and quite possibly in the nation, which is a partnership between several cities, businesses, schools law enforcement agencies, spiritual leaders and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, an American Indian tribe, a sovereign nation.
“In seeking what works, in doing what is right, Mary does not allow old rules to squelch her clarity of purpose-sense of justice and the valuing of human and civil rights.
“Others have answered her clarion call. Through Mary’s leadership, Mille Lacs received a grant for the training of 26 local leaders, male and female, white and Indian, from the Blandin Rural Leadership Foundation.
“She continues to not look away, to speak up about abuses of human and civil rights. As long as intolerance is tolerated, Mary Sam will be present, bold and purposeful.”
The League of Minnesota Human Rights Commissions, founded in 1972, is a coalition of local human-rights commissions that have been established by charter or ordinance in communities throughout Minnesota. The league is the only private, state-wide agency concerned with fighting all forms of illegal discrimination, and with enhancing the rights of all groups of people defined under the Minnesota Human Rights Law (MS 363).

Honors program special for CLC students

Academic rigor but one joy for CLC’s honors class

12/10/10
By Steve Waller, Public Information Specialist, Central Lakes College

High-achieving students at Central Lakes College, completing the first semester of a new Honors Associate in Arts program, are enjoying their academic journey.
The students in this ground-breaking group range in age from a home-schooled 15 to a mature 46. Their common goal: A transfer degree for established academics, status that says they qualify for intellectual engagement at their next institution of choice.
The 12 students have participated for one semester in Honors Composition taught by Matthew Fort and Honors Theatre Experience taught by Dennis Lamberson. Comp I is a four-credit course, Theatre is three credits, and both are part of a 16-credit honors core in the 60-credit AA degree.
Margaret Tiede of Brainerd, 15, is one of the critical thinkers to benefit from small-class size, optimal instructor contact, and problem-solving studies centered on investigation and analysis.
“I have very special memories of all the things we’ve been through together,” she said, noting her last institutional schooling was as a kindergartener. “Especially in theater class, and it’s been only a semester.”
She said the CLC experience surpasses two summers at the Concordia Language Village. The new experience at CLC includes a support network of classmates, which she described as “beyond amazing.”
English class has been the most rewarding. “I’ve never had the opportunity to really talk about books with people” Tiede said. “Our discussions are all over the map, from ethics to challenges with drafting to an author’s particular voice and style, and everyone contributes something. That’s the class that excites me for next semester.”
In the spring, when she finally has a driver’s license, Tiede will be studying in Honors Comp II taught by Leann Flynn. The other spring honors course is Introduction to Sociology with Gary Payne. Other subjects will be added next year.
Students generally spend two hours outside of class time for every hour in class to keep pace. Most students committed more for the composition course. Instructor Fort estimates his honors students added at least hour to that formula, considering the amount of reading and writing required.
The composition class requirement was to read eight great works of literature, said Fort, who like Lamberson teaches non-honors courses at CLC. Students wrote narrative essays and discussed each of the books.
Pairs of students teamed up to lead the round-table review of each literary work, two non-fiction and six novels. Fort said all books are thematically connected, moving the students to examine age-old questions, such as “What does it mean to live a good life?” and “What does it mean to be heroic?” and “When are self and society in conflict?”
“We established a peer-review process,” said Fort, “where students read and commented on their peers’ writings. Their capstone project is to create a literary journal that contains their best writings.”
The writings will be submitted for the CLC Writing Contest and publication in Phoenix, the new literary magazine at the college.
The Theatre Experience course required students to attend stage performances at three Twin Cities venues, one in St. Cloud, and two at CLC.
“The course gives students an opportunity to attend theatre productions, not just at the college but in different parts of the state,” said Lamberson. “Students explore productions of different genres in different types of theatre space with an analytical eye.”
Experiencing productions from the page to the stage, students read scripts, researched each play, and after witnessing live performances wrote reports critiquing the production. They examined the human diversity and social and economic backgrounds, race, religion, and gender built into each show.
“This examination develops critical thinking and writing skills,” Lamberson said.
At the Jungle Theater, they attended “The Glass Menagerie.” At the Penumbra they saw “Sleep Deprivation Chamber.” At the Children’s Theatre they witnessed “The Christmas Story.” At Pioneer Place in St. Cloud they had intimate seating for “A Streetcar Named Desire.” At CLC they saw “Harvey” and most picked “Women in Black” for their venue of choice t o complete assigned stagings.
Tim Lee, 30, of Wadena said his 100-mile roundtrip drives to CLC for the honors experience pleasantly surprised him. “Things are different in Honors.” He was prepared for “the depth of the material and faster pace, but there’s something more personal about the experience.”
Deeper connections are made. “Doors really open for those lucky enough to be admitted to the program,” he said. “It has been the best school experience I have ever had” and it’s one example of how CLC upholds its mission statement: We Build Futures.
In a few hours on a Thursday night for the St. Cloud show, the van ride to and from creates a conversational environment among students.
“Traveling and eating dinner together as a class provides a great time for discussion about theatre and life in general,” Lamberson said. “Discussions are lively, informative and fun.”
At a pre-show Ciatti’s restaurant dinner, the thoughtful, energized class of 11 engages lively discussion about things academic and non-academic. Lamberson steers his hungry students toward the play they will be seeing.
Focus is not a problem for this audience. To be accepted for the honors experience, they tested higher, submitted essays and letters of recommendation, and agreed to take a leadership development course.
With ample research on playwright Tennessee Williams and having seen “The Glass Menagerie,” students are prepared for a new way of viewing live theater, They are ready to spot kindred factors and also note differing qualities between Williams’ two works.
On the way back to Brainerd, reviews begin. Backseat critics weigh-in and support each statement with more than superficial opinion. Keen observation has picked up on lighting flaws, questionable set design, suspect costuming, and blocking – not to mention acting that is either effective and convincing or subpar to expectation.
Lee’s written report saved the best for last. “Eric Webster as Stanley Kowalski was simply amazing, right down to the chicken spraying out of his mouth in one of his rants,” Lee wrote. “His dialogue (delivery) made me love – and despise – his character.”
Julie Jo Larson of Brainerd, the senior class member at 46, didn’t mince words. “I would not attend another play at Pioneer Place,” she concluded. “I was bored before intermission.”
Despite the disappointing performance, Larson said she would not trade the honors program experience. It is something she couldn’t have imagined being able to manage in her formative years.

"Honors classes not only keep my mind young," she said. "They also keep my heart and soul young. It has been a blessing to be part of this program. I can honestly say it is not easy; the class work is more challenging than my other classes and the college is still trying to work out the kinks, but getting in on the ground floor is an adventure."
Nick Heinecke, 21, of Aitkin, maintains a conviction that is upheld through his experience in the honors program at CLC. “I couldn’t sit in a class room if I didn’t feel like I was learning anything,” said the high school drop-out who notes that the famous Bill Gates followed a similar exit.
Others in the first honors program cohort: Eddie Oldenburg, 19, Fort Ripley; Mitchel Collins, 20, Aitkin; Jesse Grieger, 19, Pequot Lakes; Joseph Anderson, 19, Baxter; Robert Andrys, 27, Aitkin; Nicholas Mohr, Little Falls; and Hannah Dilley, 17, and Nicolas LaQuier, 33, Brainerd.

Making history

Making history
Frau in Finland skypes German to CLC students
11/24/10

By Steve Waller, Public Information Specialist, Central Lakes College

At 5 p.m. Tuesday in Brainerd it is 1 a.m. Wednesday in Finland.
Time for class.
Frau Ann Toumi smiles and greets her Central Lakes College German students. She has had her chocolate mint ice cream, fuel for the graveyard shift from her part of the world, teaching German to beginners.
She sits aglow in laptop light from Joensuu, Finland.
Young and old alike in this Skype-based classroom have embraced global learning. As participants of a unique distance-learning experiment they are making history.
CLC has dozens of online courses, but this is the first to be taught via Skype software.
In room C237 at CLC in Brainerd, with their instructor on the flat-screen panel monitor, students ranging in age from teens to retirees await the final tweaks from a technical support person. Toumi wears a headset and looks a bit green. The picture and sound are real time.
After adjustments to the free Internet connection, the lengthy class session starts. It will go until 8:50 p.m. (4:50 a.m. in Finland) and take students well into conversational skills. The class starts with German language greetings, and spoken words are instantly viewed on the screen beneath Frau Toumi as she gently corrects any mistakes.
“She hears everything,” said Rhonda Carkhuff of Pequot Lakes, a non-traditional age student who said she feels “lucky to have her as a teacher” even if Toumi is thousands of miles away. “The delivery method works very well.”
Carkhuff and other students describe Toumi as not only proficient and patient but sincere. “She clearly cares about what she does. She cares about her students learning and having a positive experience in doing so.”
Toumi has been teaching since 1981 at places such as Bemidji State University, Pequot Lakes High School, and colleges in Finland. Having taught German and English for CLC, she is employed as a tenured, full-time English instructor at the University of Eastern Finland.
For CLC, she teaches 30 students, mostly beginners, but also works with three advanced students, including Larissa Anderson, 32, of Brainerd.
“When I restarted my studies at CLC two years ago German wasn’t offered,” Anderson said. “I swallowed my disappointment and worked on my general studies to attain my AA.”
Finding German back in the course list, Anderson renewed an interest started as a student at Pillager High School and sparked by imagination and “Indiana Jones” movies that feature German speaking parts. “The language became a part of who I am after hosting a German-speaking exchange student,” she said.
Anderson said Skype may not be the best way to learn a language. “It takes a lot of dedication . . . more challenging than an in-class setting. I couldn’t do it if not so interested in the language and without Frau Toumi.” She said the instructor is patient.
“If one style of learning doesn’t work, she has the innovation and know-how to try something else. I can’t praise her enough.”
Dr. Paul Carey arranged his work schedule with Brainerd Lakes Health to fit in three mid-day hours per week for Beginning German. Three decades after introductory studies in high school, Carey is doing something unforeseen. “I swore I would never set foot in a college classroom again.”
College is different, he said of the opportunity for enrichment rather than “logging hours to fulfill some prerequisite for my major.” Calling himself a WWII history nut, Carey said “I just really want to learn German . . . and catch a few more words as I watch ‘World at War’.”
As with others in the class expecting to one day visit Germany, Carey will be able to converse in German “rather than being the classic American tourist,” he said.
Instructor Toumi understands that motivation. She has led more than a dozen study tours to Germany and Austria, mostly during 21 years at Pequot Lakes but also while at CLC, when she created a course built on the Holocaust.
Some students enjoy German for the unique sounds associated with its usage, amused by the language with its accents and pronunciations. “The TV show ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ brought their hilarious accent to life,” said Stephanie Thompson of Merrifield, who had a year of German in high school.
“I am not amused in a derogatory way,” she added. “It is merely a hooked-on-phonics amusement.” Her German heritage, coupled with the intrigue of a culture and travel destination, motivate Thompson to tackle a course that comes with computer glitch.
When Frau Toumi’s face is frozen on the screen, class goes on with help from lab assistant Darin Flansburg and two German exchange students, Wolfgang Zollner and Barbara Felix. “They are experts and the students from Germany impart knowledge and culture,” said Thompson. “They don’t seem to mind when we make grammatical mistakes.”
She said Flansburg enables the class to master sentence structure and make the most of conversational German. The two young Germans “teach us some conversational slang, so we don’t sound like proper German robots when we speak their language.”
Flansburg is a CLC Media Center technician with 27 years of experience in the German language. He has lived in Germany, teaching English as a Second Language.
Several aides are available to handle any Internet and computer problems, including Flansburg, Justin DeZurik in tech support, and facilities coordinator Karen Mertes.
Toumi said experts at the university in Finland have also improved the distance learning technology that can be influenced by broadband “rush hour” as well as weather. The evening class seems to have a better signal that the day class, perhaps owing to the hours of the day with less Internet demand.
Patient and motivated students have enhanced this course for instructor Toumi, who received administrative support from Kelly McCalla, dean of liberal arts and sciences at CLC. “Without his enthusiasm and support, none of this would have been possible,” she said.
The support led to a decision by students such as Charlie Cook, 20, of Pequot Lakes to take another German class, one with consequences for potential deployment to Germany as a National Guard soldier. When he was a high school freshman, Cook said he “had a wonderful teacher” and is lucky to reconnect with her as he prepares for time overseas.
Cook’s non-traditional age classmate, Rhonda Carkhuff, has a son Braden who is a Concordia College student in Germany through a year-long exchange program. Like Cook, he studied German at Pequot Lakes. “I believe there might be a fair amount of travel there in the future for us,” said mother Carkhuff, noting that her son may wind up living in Germany after graduation.
“My interest is much the same as his – to learn about a place and culture that is different than our own, but one where I feel a connection,” she said.

Thinking it through

College engineering physics is for achievers
By Steve Waller, Public Information Specialist, Central Lakes College
Dan Macy, who attended Central Lakes College in 1997-98, returned to the Brainerd campus recently for a chance to work with first-semester engineering physics students.
Macy has a master’s degree and has industry experience from studies at Cal Poly and the University of Michigan. He was surprised to find the CLC students engaged in problem solving at a level beyond that one might expect from the community and technical college.
“They’re doing what some graduate programs would do,” said the Brainerd High School graduate who had taken several college classes while finishing at BHS.
The rigorous CLC studies examine real problem solving and active learning as the process toward prospective careers. Instructor John Saber, who earned a doctorate in his subject, purposefully implements the critical thinking philosophy.
“This is a style change from lecturing to use of thinking skills and team solutions,” said Saber, in his third year on the CLC faculty. Students take calculus concurrently, so the knowledge immediately blends to optimize relevance of the subject matter.
Colleague Jan Bedard, a 2010 state educational award winner, observed one class session and liked what she saw. “I saw John's students focus on an issue. They tried several solutions, and when one didn't work, instead of feeling defeated, they persisted by exploring other possible solutions.
“The interesting mix of big-picture thinkers and detail-oriented people allowed groups to look at the task from multiple viewpoints,” Bedard added. “Some students understood the physics, some understood the math, some understood the computer and graphics; each strength allowed others to become stronger in their more challenging areas.”
“Engineering physics is a calculus-based course, and these students may otherwise have no calculus background,” Saber said. “The students have responded well. I am not showing them how to do the problem.”
Stacy Ennenga Stricker of Pine River, a student, said the class structure and instructor’s teaching style have improved her critical thinking skills. “This class is different from others I've taken because we are guided through the problems, rather than lectured the information,” she said. I am retaining the information much better through this discovery process.”
To solve problems that are complex and that take several hours to solve, students start with Newton’s 2nd Law and derive the equations that describe the motion of the system presented in the problem statement. Rather than spend a lot of time with algebraic manipulations of the equations, students use Mathematica to do that work. This way, the students’ efforts are focused on critical thinking.
As Macy and Bedard witnessed, this is a new way to teach the subject. Saber said it comes out of a reform approach that began in 1986. Built on the concepts of hands-on vs. lecture, aided by technology, students now learn to explain their actions in the process of problem-solving.
“They have to say why a particular decision was a good idea,” Saber said. “They do this with the aid of self generated graphs and data sets. In every assignment they’re using four legs of a table – graphing, data, manipulation of the equations, and both written and oral explanations.”
Macy said in four years of engineering studies he was never offered such an approach. “It’s not plug and chug. The students are learning the approach, the method. It’s the process they would use as engineers.”
Saber believes in providing the challenge, giving students just enough guidance to harness their intuitive aptitudes. “The only equation I give them is Newton’s Second Law,” he said.
This is what gets students such as Sam Srock of Crosby are thriving on, the opportunity to obtain the greatest self-satisfaction as a problem gets solved. The home-schooled college freshman, one of three post-secondary enrolled students, has survived a number of dead-ends but managed to find answers.
“It had me stumped,” he said, after moving from the laptop computer to a drawing board where he more clearly could picture an equation. He celebrated completion of Part One of a three-part puzzler that consumed two days of lab time. The problem:
“A 200-pound bungee jumper jumps from a bridge 130 above a river. The bungee cord has an unstretched length of 60 feet and has a spring constant k=14 lb./ft.
A) How far above the river is the jumper when the cord brings him to a stop?
B) What maximum force does the cord exert on him?
C) How far up will the jumper rebound?”
Macy looked on as the team of Stacy Ennenga Stricker, Jonathan Hammer, and Rian Hutchison dug into the problem. He said he appreciate the practicality of the problem, as well as the aspect of working together for a solution. It compares admirably to the professional environment.
“This is a community of thinkers,” he observed. Saber told him how the students continue to communicate off-campus in efforts to solve such problems. “They’re working on them at night,” he said, noting that Skype allows them to move in real time toward solutions even when they’re apart.
Engineering physics is not for the unfocused. A few students have dropped out, citing difficulties with calculus, attention, and teamwork.
Saber said those who remain in class “love it.” They take pride in accomplishment.
“They’re the cream of the crop.”

German guests

German professionals at CLC seek temporary employment
By Steve Waller, Public Information Specialist, Central Lakes College
Two young professionals from Germany will seek temporary employment in the United States after a semester of classes at Central Lakes College.
Barbara Felix and Wolfgang Zollner are students at the Brainerd campus through the year-long exchange program, Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals. They are among 75 German scholarship recipients. CLC is one of 59 colleges in 32 states hosting the students.
During the fall term, Felix and Zollner are completing community service projects as required by the program, which also asks that they find internships in a career field.
Felix has education and experience in health insurance customer service, having worked as a social insurance clerk from September 2006 to July 2010.
Zollner worked for BMW Corp. as an industrial mechanic apprentice from September 2007 to February 2010. He attended a vocational school in Germany for advanced technical qualifications.
Both students are fluent in English, have competent computer skills, and have been tutoring German students at CLC. They are active in the college International Club and have helped organize community events and fundraisers at CLC as well as volunteering at the Brainerd area soup kitchen.
Felix is staying with Jeanette Rydberg, a child development instructor at CLC. Zollner is housed at the home of Jean Mershon, a customized training representative at CLC.
Felix recently was selected for a month-long Congressional internship in Washington, D.C., and after that she wants to work in the Brainerd area. “The people in the Brainerd area are so friendly,” she said. “And the landscape is so beautiful.”
Zollner, who has traveled to Spain and Ireland, is also eager to see more of the United States via an automobile he purchased after securing a driver’s license as stipulated by the exchange program. His skills include welding and servicing production equipment. He has been trained in milling and lathe operation and has taken courses in pneumatics, and control technologies.
The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, in its 27th year, was designed to strengthen ties between the younger generation of the United States and Germany. Endorsed by members of the Congress and the German Parliament (Bundestag), the program has enabled over 3,500 young professionals to trade countries with their counterparts to live, study and work for a year in a foreign environment.
The program is financially supported by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs under the authority of the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961, as well as the German Bundestag. CDS International, Inc. is designated to administer the program in the United States through a grant agreement with the U.S. State Department.
In Germany, the program is administered by CDS International’s partner organization, InWEnt gGmbH, in Bonn.

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange is currently seeking qualified American applicants for the 2011-2012 program year in Germany. For more information, contact Amy Stiegler, Program Assistant, at 212-497-3522 or astiegler@cdsintl.org
In addition to the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, CDS International also administers a variety of other internship programs. For more information on CDS International and its programs, including the Congress-Bundestag program, go to http://www.cdsintl.org