Outstanding German Major Awards
Jonathan Dattilio
Jonathan Dattilio is a double major in German and History in the Honors College with a Minor in German Studies. In the Spring of 2019 he participated in a semester-long exchange to the University of Bamberg and during his four years at CofC, he completed 41 credits of upper level German courses, 14 more than required. This April, he presented on his Honors Bachelor’s thesis in History: “Phasmatagorical Pages: Der Orchideengarten in Weimar popular culture.” Jonathan completed the Goethe Institute’s C1 exams this March. He plans to begin study in a graduate program in History in Germany or the US next year.
Mikaela Franco
Mikaela Franco is an A.B in German with minors in Classics and English who will be graduating with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Having self-taught herself German via study of the Lutherbibel, Mikaela started at a high level in our program 3 years ago and has spent the past three years bringing her German into the 21st century, with much success! In the spring of 2020, she spent a semester abroad at the University of Bamberg and elected to stay even after the pandemic started, moving in with a German host family and successfully completing upper level German philology seminars, including one on “Das Nibelungenlied und seine Rezeption.” In addition to reaching the C1 level of Modern German and learning to read Middle High German for her class on the Nibelungenlied, Mikaela also took three years of Latin to fulfill the A.B. requirements. She is currently interviewing for teaching jobs in the state.
Cyril Langston
A double major in German and Arts Management with a Minor in Economics, Cyril came to CofC from Summerville after several years of high school German with CofC German alumna Kelsey Cater ’09. During her time in the program, Cyril has been a fabulous student and leader in our courses with a talent for creative writing, as she displayed as an actor, writer, director and editor in the 2020 production of “2Faust2Furious: Das Unzulängliche / Hier wird’s Ereignis.” For her work in the Bonner Leadership program at CofC, Cyril received the 2021 Stephen C. Osborne and George P. Watt Jr. Bonner Leader of the Year Award at the CofC Excel Awards this spring. In 2019, she participated in the CofC Summer Study Abroad to Florence Italy, and after graduation, Cyril will continue her global journey by pursuing a Global Masters of Science in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, the first year of which will be held at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
Josef Mozelewski Memorial Award.
The Josef Mojelewski Memorial Award was established to honor the late Josef Mojelewski, Professor of German. Dr. Modzelewski served as the first co-chair for the new Department of Classics and German in the mid-1990’s. This award was presented for the first time last year and will continue to be presented annually for special recognition of outstanding work done by a student of German language and culture. This year, we have two recipients of the award:
Ruthie Foster
A double major in German and International Business with minors in International Studies and German Studies, Ruthie began in German 101 in her first year, participated in the summer internship to Germany in 2019, and completed the Goethe Institute’s B1 exams this past March. During her journey at CofC, she served for several years as an RA and for two years as the student worker for the German and Russian Studies Department. Throughout, Ruthie has been a constant positive force in our program and as student worker was critical in a number of poster campaigns and events held by the German program, in particular the annual German-American Business Summit. This April, she received a job offer for a position in Inside Sales with the local German company ZAPP Precision Wire, which she will begin after graduation.
Jonathan Dattilio
In addition to his excellence in the classroom (see above), Jonathan co-organized the weekly German language Stammtisch for two years, participated in two outreach events to High School German learners to talk about his experiences in Bamberg, and has been a tremendous team player in our program.