GEORGIA - Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04), is pleased to announce that two students from Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District have been selected to participate in the 2017-2018 Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) Program.
Rising junior Sonia Karkare of Decatur High School and rising senior Emily Lent of Providence Classical Christian School are two of 50 total students from the Southeast and Puerto Rico to be awarded this fully funded scholarship.
Congressman Johnson said the program can give the students a new perspective on global current affairs and German social, economic and political life.
“As CBYX scholars, these students will spend the next school year in Germany gaining a rare opportunity to better understand the German language, culture and their everyday way of life,” said Congressman Johnson. “The students will also have the chance to visit the German Parliament (Bundestag), meet with German government officials and explore the country through numerous excursions.”
Karkare and Lent will live with a host family, attend a German high school and participate in a four-week language and cultural immersion camp, and intercultural seminars.
The CBYX program was inaugurated in 1983 through a bilateral agreement between the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag to celebrate German-American relations and foster a mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and Germany.
Since its inception, more than 24,000 American and German students have participated. The program is jointly funded by the U.S. and German governments, and is overseen in this country by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The students were selected for the program by the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), which serves as the country’s oldest and largest non-profit study abroad intercultural exchange organization.
The Congressman will send the two students official proclamations to congratulate them on this accomplishment and wants more students in Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District to get involved with this program.
“I encourage all schools in my district to learn more about this opportunity so that other students from a diverse array of communities can have access to this unique experience,” said Johnson. “This is a program that remains instrumental in promoting public diplomacy and strengthens transatlantic relations.”
For more information about the CBYX program, visit www.ciee.org/cbyx or call 1-800-448-9944.
