Congratulations to 6th year student Nina Stehelova, who was one of just 11 students across the country to receive a prestigious DeutschlandPlus scholarship. DeutschlandPlus is a scholarship programme which offers students with an exceptionally high command of the German language the opportunity to travel to Germany and experience German school and home life. Nina was selected for the programme based off her result in the 2023 Junior Cycle German exam, where she received one of the highest scores in the country.
At the end of August, Nina travelled to Bad-Iburg in the German province of Niedersachsen, where she spent two weeks living with a German host family and attending German secondary school. In the evenings after school, Nina enjoyed a number of memorable experiences including a tour of Bad-Iburg city, visit to Bad-Iburg Castle, swimming in Lake Sassenburg, and an outdoor performance of the ‘The Three Muskateers’ musical through German. She also enjoyed day trips to Osnabrück, a quaint German city known for its impressive architecture and Bremerhaven, where she visited the famous Klimahaus (a unique mixture of a science centre and a theme park).
Nina’s trip to Germany proved to be an invaluable experience in which she gained rich cultural knowledge, as well as increased German oral proficiency, which will be of great benefit to her as she begins her Leaving Certificate year. Congratulations to Nina on her wonderful achievement and well done also to her German teacher Ms Quilty for supporting Nina in achieving excellence in German over the past five years.