October, 2005 - Nr. 10
German Language Awards
by Herwig Wandschneider
Well over 50 students were honoured at the 32nd Annual German Language Awards held at the Maureen Forrester Recital Hall of Wilfrid Laurier University September 27th. The awards night is known as the Bitzer Event (so named in honour of Wilfrid L. Bitzer – a past Honourary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany and a staunch proponent of the German Language, who passed away in 1996 at age 99).
Each year in May, advanced High School students of the German Language in the Region of Waterloo are invited to participate in the German Language competition. Certificates and valuable cash awards are presented to the winning students at the Bitzer Event. Also High School Students in first and second year German receive awards as do University students scoring at the top of their class in Business German at Waterloo and Laurier Universities.
Top Prizes of $1,000 each went to (Sponsor in Brackets):
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Sarah Calder, German Language School Concordia, (Mercedes-Benz)
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Goran Klaric, Eastwood C.I., (Paul Tuerr Construction),
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Bastian Lovasc, Business German - U of Waterloo, (BMW Canada)
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Jasmin Hofer, Business German - U of Waterloo, (Pfennings Organic Veg Farms)
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Katerina Korobkina, Top Student - U of Waterloo, (B-K Motors) and
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Chris Gordon, Wilfrid Laurier University, (F.J. Stork Holdings)
![Monika Matthaes with the "Wanderpokal" [photo: Ursel Wandschneider]](510c-HW-1398.jpg)
For
the second year in a row, the "Wanderpokal" (School Trophy) was received by
Mrs. Monika Matthaes, principal, on behalf of the German Language School
Concordia.
The event was attended by more than 300 guests. Prizes in most cases were presented by Senior Representatives of the sponsoring company. Special guests included the President of Wilfrid Laurier University, the Chair of the Dept of Germanic and Slavic Studies of the University of Waterloo, Consular representatives of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Regional and Municipal Politicians, the President of the National German Canadian Congress and the Chair of the Co-operative Council of German Clubs. Each briefly congratulated the students and family and encouraged them to continue to succeed with their future efforts.
Masters of Ceremony Klaus Koeppen and Reinhard Weise kept the proceedings flowing smoothly and efficiently.
![Presidents M. Breitschwerdt, M. Weigel, K. Koeppen [photo: Ursel Wandschneider]](510c-HW-1395.jpg)
A
very special honour for all students and participants was the keynote
address given by Marcus Breitschwerdt, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz
Canada Inc., whose presence and eloquent speech underlined the importance of
their studies and the successes achieved. Mr. Breitschwerdt expounded on the
invaluable asset that knowing other languages represents, particularly in
the on-going globalization of companies, trade and personal communication.
But beyond the languages, the understanding of history, traditions and
culture must be an integral part of learning a language. Only then does one
achieve mutual understanding personally and in business, and problem solving
can then be started from different angles. Trade between countries and the
efforts of mutual understanding facilitate appreciation of the partner’s
background and are fundamental to successful conclusions to negotiations at
every level of relationships. Mr. Breitschwerdt cited the necessity to
understand the different needs of the peoples in developing products for the
various global markets and drew on his own experience in developing future
models of Mercedes cars in his California research and development facility.
Future models must be geared for the markets they are intended to serve.
And he underlined that one must like people to even begin the process of communication. Also, for success on the local or global scale, one must like the service or product, in his case automobiles. A combination of all these factors are the ingredients that make success in the global markets possible.
The fact that Mr. Breitschwerdt remained throughout the award ceremonies and made himself available to talk to everyone individually over hors d’oeuvres, after the conclusion of formal proceedings, was clearly much appreciated by students and guests, who virtually surrounded him for the remainder of the evening. Particularly to the students, his presence beyond the formal part of the awards emphasized the value and importance of their efforts and achievements.
Credit is due to Dr. Marga Weigel, President of the German-Canadian Education Fund, and her Board of Directors for their untiring efforts for organizing an event, which certainly is one of the steps towards opening the world to our youth every year.
