January 21, 2014 

Germany Beckons Laura Secord Student 

While summer is often a time for high school students to earn a little money and spend time with friends, Grade 10 student Lukas Koch has some different plans. He’ll be spending time learning about names like Bach and Beethoven. In August, the Laura Secord Secondary student will travel to Germany as a reward for winning the Goethe Institut’s award of excellence. 

Although he’d won such a prestigious honour; Lukas almost missed out on the opportunity to travel abroad. “I didn’t think I had a chance at winning, so when I got the notification, I assumed it was a joke and didn’t follow-up,” said Lukas. Fortunately, the Goethe Institut persisted, and contacted teacher Katharina Daldrup who ultimately made sure that Lukas knew he had won.  

Lukas, who already speaks German, said he is most looking forward to having the opportunity to further develop his reading and writing skills. “That, and bringing back mounds of German candy,” smiled Lukas.  

Participating students were shown a video entitled “Young Urban Life in Germany” and were asked to answer a series of questions about Berlin’s youth culture. Successful students are then entered into a lottery for a chance to win the first prize, a young learner’s course in Germany. Lukas will make the trip to join with other students from across the world from August 3 – 23.  

In 2013, nearly 500 Laura Secord students and over 12,000 students across Canada and the United States took part in the contest. Lukas is one of two students in all of Canada to win this award. This is the second time in seven years that a student from Laura Secord has been named a winner of the Goethe Institut’s award of excellence.