June/2015
 AlabamaGermany Partnership   500 Beacon Parkway West   Birmingham   AL 35209

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In This Issue
Bayer CropScience in Mobile
No Small Talk Please
WSCC teaming with co. schools for REHAU Academy
Board Member Profile
Free University Degree in Germany
Educational Corner
 
Dankesch�n to our PATRON Members:


 
Alagasco 
 
 
Mercedes
    
 
Roedl & Partner
 
 
Dankesch�n to our SUSTAINING Members:


 
     BLG
 
 
 
 
 Lufthansa  
 
Siemens  
 
TUVRheinland 

    
   
  
What to do in Alabama

June 1 - August 28
Montevallo
 
June 12-14
Hoover

June 19-20
Gulf Shores

June 25-28
Tuscumbia


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AGP Membership 2015

Still not an AGP member? Please consider joining our organization today and enjoy the many benefits that comes with AGP membership. For more information on corporate membership and benefits click here

 

Click Here to renew or sign up for membership!

 

Biergarten benefiting AGP  

 

THANK YOU!

 

Thank you to all that came out to support AlabamaGermany Partnership (AGP) at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Biergarten. AGP was the featured nonprofit organization at their German Biergarten and they made $ 485.90 donation to our organization.

 

German Word 
of the Month
How Not to Embarrass 
Yourself in Germany
Southern Sayings
New AGP Members

Corporation / Regular

Sacha Walicard
Business Development


Education - Student

Christian McClure
Student


AGP Member News 
Events & Seminars Offered by AGP Members
AGP
Executive Committee
AGP Affiliates
Contact Us
Join Our List
Bayer CropScience poised to invest $120 million in Mobile co-location project with Evonik
By AL.com

 

 

More than two years after scouting the Mobile area to house the largest construction project in its history, Bayer CropScience appears poised to invest $120 million in the Port City's chemical corridor for a considerably smaller - but substantial - partnership with Evonik Corp.

 

Mobile's industrial development board approved Thursday tax abatements for the project totaling an estimated $15.2 million, including $8.8 million in sales and use taxes that expire when the project becomes operational and $7.4 million in ad valorem taxes extending 10 years.

 

Troy Wayman, the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce's vice president of economic development, called the action indicative of the city's "pro-business approach to economic development" because it allows Bayer to "have a presence in the Mobile area and hopefully will lead to future growth for Bayer as it has for Evonik."

 

Education taxes collected for the Mobile County Public Schools System during the course of the 10-year abatement period are estimated at $7.3 million, Wayman said.

Monheim, Germany-based Bayer planned initially to construct a global herbicide production facility in Mobile that would employ 180 people at full production and represent a total investment of about $396 million.

Four months later, the anticipated capital investment figure for the project ballooned to $500 million as the company sought to boost supply chain capacity in response to exploding industry demand. Specifically, the company envisioned the mega-plant being dedicated to production of glufosinate-ammonium herbicide for worldwide distribution to combat glyphosate-resistant weeds.

  

For full story by AL.com click here... 

 

No Small Talk Please...
By Andy Molinsky and Melissa Hahn, Harvard Business Review
  

Michael has been in Frankfurt for about a week and is really missing his home office in Chicago. Everyone in Germany seems to be so serious at work. No small talk, no conversation about the weekend, no interest in his American background - in fact, no interest really in him at all, it seems.

 

At first, Michael blamed the "uncaring" Germans. But he then started to wonder whether he was, in fact, the problem. Perhaps if he were friendlier or tried even harder, he could make some quick friendships to ease his transition. Determined to make this happen, Michael started to make small talk anywhere and everywhere he could. But these efforts seemed to fall on deaf ears, and worse, alienate his colleagues, who appeared more distant than ever before. As he considered next steps, Michael wondered: What could have gone wrong?

 

As it turns out, Michael was the problem, but not in the way he thought. What he didn't realize is that small talk simply isn't as common in Germany where personal relationships at work take much longer to develop than in the U.S. As a result, Michael's aggressive attempts at forcing chit-chat with colleagues didn't go over too well. And it's not just in Germany where small talk can backfire. In many places around the world, it is unbecoming to engage in trivial banter about the weather or the commute to the office, or to glide from one topic to the other in a lighthearted fashion. 

   

Click here for full story by Harvard Business Review.                                       

AGP German Dinners 


In May and June we hosted two wonderful German Dinners in Birmingham and Auburn. Amazing food and great conversations. We hope you will join us next time! 












WSCC teaming with co. schools for REHAU Academy

By The Cullman Times

 

Pictured L-R: Jimmy Hodges, WSCC Dean of Applied Technologies; Dr. Vicki Karolewics, WSCC President; Jeff Curtis, Cullman Area Career Center principal, Cullman County Schools; Dr. Craig Ross, Cullman County Schools Superintendent; Dr. Ginger Hogeland, School Counselor/Fast Track Admin Asst at CACC & CDC, Cullman County Schools; Albert von Pelser-Berensberg, REHAU-Cullman Plant Manager; Michael von Hertell, REHAU Head of Vocational Education, External Continuing Education and Training; Hubert F�rg, REHAU Head of International Training.

 

In a push to provide additional training and accessibility for future employees, local automotive component and polymer manufacturer REHAU has teamed with Wallace State and the Cullman County school system to create a new paid apprenticeship program set to launch in the coming months.  

Dubbed REHAU Academy, the program will offer paid apprenticeship opportunities to Fast Track for Industry dual enrollment students beginning this fall.


Officials from both educational institutions, as well as REHAU representatives from Cullman and the company's native Germany, have spent the past several weeks meeting to ensure the curriculum achieves desired learning outcomes and also aligns with the German apprenticeship model.

 

"This cooperation is a further step into the future for Cullman County and REHAU," REHAU's Head of Vocational Education, External Continuing Education and Training Michael von Hertell said. "With this program we want to train the professionals of tomorrow in cooperation with Wallace State and Cullman County Schools. Theoretical and practical training are connected with each other in this new training course. This program is similar to the German education system. We are pleased to have found us a superb partner with Wallace State and Cullman County Schools."

 

A total of eight paid REHAU Academy apprentices will be selected each year from the new Fast Track for Industry program. Students will apply for apprenticeships during their junior year of high school and begin the apprenticeship during their senior year. Since Fast Track for Industry will not begin until fall, officials say applications will be made available to current 11th graders at Cullman County Schools who plan to enroll in the Fast Track for Industry program.

   

Click here for full story in The Cullman Times.

 

Board Member Profile

Francis (Frank) James Fogarty

Vice President for Trade & Development

Alabama State Port Authority in Mobile, AL

 

James F. Fogarty is Vice President for Trade and Development at the Alabama State Port Authority. Mr. Fogarty's areas of responsibility include organization, business development and oversight of the port's trade initiatives. 

 

Mr. Fogarty has 38 years of professional experience in domestic and international trade, terminal operations and stevedoring in U.S. ports. Prior to joining the Authority, he served as senior vice president for sales and marketing at Ports America in Iselin, New Jersey. 

 

Mr. Fogarty is actively involved in the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Association, Propeller Club of Mobile, Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association, AlabamaGermany Partnership, North Alabama International Trade Association, Inland River, Ports and Terminals Association, and Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association. 

 

Noted by Mr. Fogarty: "As a member of the AlabamaGermany Partnership I see the positive results  gained from the ongoing education opportunities.  Education facilitated by the AGP through language, cultural and exchange programs  strengthen the relationships between Alabama and Germany,  building a better environment for business and individual success.  I am pleased to be a part of this important organization."  

 

Mr. Fogarty is married to Reba "C" Fogarty, and has one son, Neville Fogarty. 

 

How US students get a university degree for free in Germany
By BBC News

 

While the cost of college education in the US has reached record highs, Germany has abandoned tuition fees altogether for German and international students alike. An increasing number of Americans are taking advantage and saving tens of thousands of dollars to get their degrees.

 

In a kitchen in rural South Carolina one night, Hunter Bliss told his mother he wanted to apply to university in Germany. Amy Hall chuckled, dismissed it, and told him he could go if he got in.

 

"When he got accepted I burst into tears," says Amy, a single mother. "I was happy but also scared to let him go that far away from home."

 

Across the US parents are preparing for their children to leave the nest this summer, but not many send them 4,800 miles (7,700km) away - or to a continent that no family member has ever set foot in.

 

Yet the appeal of a good education, and one that doesn't cost anything, was hard for Hunter and Amy to ignore.

"For him to stay here in the US was going to be very costly," says Amy. "We would have had to get federal loans and student loans because he has a very fit mind and great goals."

 

For BBC News full report, click here.

                                            

From the Educational Corner

By Trudy Clements, retired teacher of German

 

 

Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham, is fortunate to have one of the best public high schools in Alabama.  Year after year, the Vestavia Hills High School Math, "We the People," Economics Challenge, and Debate teams compete at the highest national levels and many other groups are very successful in state and national competitions as well.  What is unique about this high school, however, is its large German program.  Every year approx. 300 students (from a student population of 1900) choose to learn German, not included are about 40 students who are taking German at the middle school level.  No other high school in Alabama, maybe even in the Southeast, has such a large German department. 

 

The students take German for a variety of reasons and once in a while a teacher senses the first time he/she meets a new student that this particular student will become an accomplished learner of German.  Owen Chandler belongs to this small group.

 

Owen's love and passion for the language, his determination, and self-motivation were evident immediately.  He did so well in his first and second year of German studies that he succeeded in scoring so high on the National German Exam that he won a summer study abroad trip to Germany (Congress-Bundestag scholarship awarded through the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG)).  Every year, AATG awards these scholarships to 39 students on a nationwide basis.  Owen spent three weeks with a wonderful host family in Berlin and came back full of enthusiasm and love for the German language and culture.  On rare occasions, Serena Duncan (teacher of German at VHHS) and I have promoted students from the second to the fourth (AP) level.  A student has to score extremely well on the national exam, have a high A in all German classes, and show a strong level of maturity and dedication in order to be recommended for this accelerated path.  Owen did not prove us wrong when he was promoted to the AP class.  He scored the highest score possible (5) on the AP exam (a grueling four hour exam which tests grammatical, cultural, analytical, listening, writing, and speaking skills of the students) after only three years of German.  An amazing feat!  He continued with German 5 Honors in his senior year, something he did not have to do since he already had achieved the best AP score possible.  He was inducted into the German Honor Society in his junior year and served as its president in the 2014-15 school, participating in many of its service activities. 

 

In recent years, the VHHS German Honor Society and the German Club have awarded a small scholarship to a deserving senior who plans to attend a four-year institution and who will pursue a minor or major in German during his/her college career.  There were two excellent applicants this year.  Owen's eloquent essay was the deciding factor for receiving this financial award.  I hope you will take time to read his testimonial.  It is hard to believe that he chose German as his foreign language because his brother took Spanish and he wanted to learn a different language.

 

Viel Gl�ck, Owen, with your studies and WAR EAGLE!

   

Owen's scholarship essay in the next AGP newsletter.