On February 25, 2026, the 12th grade AP English classes, led by Ms. Weiland and Ms. Ernst, had the great honor of meeting Ms. Erica Thibault, Counselor for Public Engagement, from the US Embassy in Berlin at our school. This was organized through the Meet Us Program, which led by Ms. Wäscher and focusses on connecting German students to Americans to fix misconceptions that many people have about the educational system of the USA. The first part of this event was a presentation created by Ms. Thibault going through the basics of the American school system like their types of diplomas and their general preparational process for and after college and explains the key differences between the American and German systems. Additionally, she talked a lot about several misconceptions of the American school system such as the difficulties that Americans have finding a fitting college after graduation because of their immense diversity. Then, she concluded the presentation by introducing us to EducationUSA, a network by the government of the USA created to help finding (international) students a perfectly fitting college and to offer an enormous amount of information on different organizational aspects like finances, housing and study requirements for international students. The second part of our meeting was all about asking questions regarding attending college in North America where she told us quite a bit about her experiences and how we could benefit from similar experiences to hers. When it was time for Ms. Thibault to depart, two students of Ms. Weiland´s AP class gifted her and Ms. Wäscher each a bouquet of flowers to say thank you. And we received gifts as well – among other goddies we got a soccer ball to remind us of this year’s World Championships being hosted by the USA. Surely, this opportunity has given many of our soon-to-be graduates a proper overview of how to approach studying in the US and offered many reasons to consider doing so.
By Connor Reinke (Englisch LK L104, S. Weiland)
