A very special award for a very special student: Kateryna Solopova has been awarded the Prize 2016 by Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienstes (DAAD), the German Academic Exchange Service. The accolade goes to international students for outstanding academic achievement and civic engagement. Kateryna Solopova is from Ukraine and studies history at the University of Bremen. Alongside her studies and two part-time jobs, she still finds time for diverse voluntary activities. For example, she holds language courses for young people with migrant backgrounds, actively helps displaced persons here in Germany, and works as a journalist for the newsletter “Stephanus”. In addition to all this, she is working on a documentation of the history of the Russian-German community. Since September 2016 she is also a mentor in the program “Fokus Berufseinstieg” [Focus career start] at the University of Bremen, where she supports researchers of the “Bunker Valentin” in a project on the forced laborers imported from the Ukraine during the Second World War who built the bunker.
“Civic engagement like this holds our society together”
“The prize money will help me to finish my bachelor’s thesis on time”, says Kateryna Solopova happily. “I’m truly grateful for that”. She received two nominations for the prize: From Michael Thiele, a member of the teaching staff in the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Mathias Rösel, in the Faculty of Cultural Stusdies, with whom Kateryna took a course in Hebrew. “Her voluntary civic commitment is quite remarkable. It takes courage and energy to recognize one’s capabilities and put them to the service of others”, says Rösel. “Civic engagement like this holds our society together – and in this respect Kateryna certainly plays her part”. The award will be presented during the traditional “Christmas Jamboree” held by the International Office at the University of Bremen.
About the DAAD prize
For more than ten years, award is annually presented by the DAAD on recommendation from universities. Endowed in the sum of 1,000 euros per university, it is awarded to international students in recognition of outstanding achievements. All members of the University’s teaching staff are able to nominate candidates for the prize.
If you would like to have more information on this topic, feel free to contact:
University of Bremen
International Office
Claudia Pellegrino
Phone: +49 421 218-60365
email: claudia.pellegrinoprotect me ?!vw.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
