All ninth graders in Germany have to do a two-week "practicum." Ideally, it should be related to what they want to do later. Last year Patrick applied to radio stations, TV stations, dubbing studios, but no luck. Even the ice-cream shop in Eppstein said they couldn't be sure they would be open the third and fourth week of January when he would need to show up for "work" each morning. Patrick was feeling a bit miffed that everyone was getting spots through connections, and only he didn't have one; obviously his parents didn't have the right connections!
Then Georg asked a mom who is involved with the local politics whether she might know someone. Lo and behold Patrick got a spot with the county representative to the state parliament in Wiesbaden. He just finished his two weeks helping and observing our representative. He decided all those meetings and talks were not for him, but how wonderful that he saw first hand government in action. The representative was super nice and even picked him up in Eppstein because the train connections are so bad. Herr Heinz gave him letters from constituents to draft responses, the raw data to draft articles for the local newspaper, and took Patrick and another intern to all the events, including the opening of a horse farm.
This week he's back in school after four weeks "off."
No comments:
Post a Comment