MONUMENT • A 2021 Palmer Ridge High School graduate will spend her next year in Germany after earning a prestigious scholarship.

Ana Burmeister is one of 250 American high school students from across the United States to be awarded the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship for the 2021-22 academic year. The CBYX is a bilateral exchange program co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and German Bundestag (Parliament).

The Council on International Educational Exchange, a nonprofit study abroad and intercultural exchange organization, announced the award in a news release.

As a CBYX scholar, Burmeister will spend the academic year in Germany living with a host family, attending a German high school and participating in a language and cultural training program to gain a better understanding of German culture, language and everyday life.

“I feel elated,” Burmeister said. “As each day gets closer to the day I leave, I get more excited and more nervous. It also makes me really grateful, scince not many people get to experience something like this, so I really want to get the most out of this experience as possible.

“I am ready to leave Colorado and the U.S. and be able to go to a completely different, new place.”

Burmeister will also have a chance to visit German Bundestag, meet with American and German government officials, participate in intercultural seminars and explore the country through excursions to nearby cities and historical sites.

The CBYX program is mutually funded by the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag, and it was created to foster a mutual understanding and strengthen ties between Germany and the U.S. through citizen diplomacy.

“I expect I will know German very well by the end of the program in mid-June (2022),” Burmeister said. “I expect that I will know a lot more about German traditions and culture, along with politics and geography and the education system.”

Presently, Burmeister is a beginner when it comes to the German language. She hopes to form a good relationship with her host family, who has not been assigned as of yet. Through the experience, she aspires to become more culturally aware, flexible, mature and a responsible person, she said.

Burmeister feels she was selected for the scholarship based on her hard work, including her academic record. She was ranked first academically her sophomore year, and in her senior year she was awarded the AP Scholar award. However, the new Palmer Ridge alumna has had her share of challenges.

“I went through a school shooting in Florida in 2018,” Burmeister said. “But I learned the importance of life and giving back to the community through volunteering. … I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of my family and many of my former teachers.”

Since it’s inception in 1983, the CIEE program has enabled more than 27,000 students to expand their intercultural understanding, strengthen their leadership skills and become global citizens. All participants become part of a global network of the U.S. Department of State program alumni.

Burmeister is an aspiring polyglot, someone who knows and uses several languages. Presently, she is focusing on German. She describes herself as shy or introverted, hard-working, persevering and academic. She also knows Spanish relatively well and would like to learn Catalan and Italian in the near future.

“Language learning will probably always be at least a hobby for me, if not also translate into a career,” Burmeister said.

Although she has not yet decided a career path, she aspires to attend college in the U.S. and has gotten a variety of acceptance offers from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to Harvard. She has always aspired to attend a non-English speaking university.

Burmeister feels she may major in psychology or neuroscience, possibly linguistics or cognitive science. The study of the mind highly interests her, and possibly a research-oriented career.

Not only do American students go abroad to Germany, but German students also come to live and study in the U.S. through the exchange. To learn more about hosting an international high school exchange student coming to the Monument area for the 2021-22 academic year, visit ciee.org/host-families.