American Association of Teachers of German

Deutschklub this year has been an amazing and memorable experience for everyone involved. The adventure started off with last year’s induction ceremony and dinner at the house of Dorian Bertsch, former club publicity officer and current secretary. Bertsch’s family hosted a lovely Swiss raclette, followed by delicious desserts. Soon after, we inducted members of the honor society and celebrated the graduating seniors. Next, students running for office gave their speeches, and we voted for the 2005-2006 Deutschklub officers. Rosanne Joseph and I were honored to become presidents. Other positions include publicity officers, secretary, soccer leader, treasurer and historian.

The first exciting event of our year was Club Day on September 7th. We prepared posters, informational cards and gummy bears to give out, and members gathered around our table on the quad to promote German. We had lots of signups, including students taking German as well as those learning other languages! The club celebrated new members with an ice cream party. Needless to say, attendance was high.

The next event lined up was Oktoberfest, our large celebration and barbeque on the quad, taking place on Tuesday, October 11th. We sold plate lunches with German sausage, bread (Broetchen), salad (Salat) and desserts such as apple pie (Apfelstrudel) and ginger cookies (Pfeffernuessen). Plates sold for four dollars, and our table was quite popular on the quad. The club made a large profit of a couple hundred dollars, and reimbursed students who bought sausages. The event took lots of planning, setting up the grill and clean-up, but it was a success!

Deutschklub also participated in German-American Day on October 7th, 2005. We paid for donuts and organized a trivia question, to air over morning announcements. Representatives from each class were to go to the Quad, where German Club members randomly selected a first-period class to give the doughnuts to. Congratulations to Mrs. Renazco's B period Trig/Analyt class for winning!

We have worked to promote German through the Step Into German soccer program. Students from the club visited middle-schoolers, and encouraged them to sign up for cool prizes and a chance to win a trip to the World Cup in Germany, by registering online. There were different teams competing for the most sign-ups. By spreading awareness of our excellent German program, we hope to encourage students to take this language in high school.

Another tradition Deutschklub undertook this year was Nikolaustag. Every year we spend a club day filling tissue paper goodie-bags with nuts, chocolates, gingerbread cookies and little mandarin oranges. We had an assembly line; some of us cut tissue paper, others placed the goodies inside, others cut ribbon, and the rest tied the bags together. We had to create hundreds of bags, to be handed out for each class at Gunn, and Paly as well! Students removed a shoe during class and placed it outside the room, and returned later to find a bag of goodies inside.

The Klein family also hosted a Weihnachtsparty. The club organized “secret santas,” and each member drew a name out of a hat. Every person bought their secret buddy a small present, and at the party we presented our gifts to each other. However, to receive his or her present, a student had to share a special talent! Some members sang, while others danced, played instruments or did charades. Gifts included home-cooked food, notebooks, scarves, ear-muffs, candy and much more. We also had fun baking and decorating cookies at the celebration, and enjoyed speaking with old members who are Deutschklub graduates, and attended the party.

Throughout the year Deutschklub members have sold candy to raise money. We sell authentic German Toblerones, Roulettes, gummy bears and gummy frogs. These delicious sweets are always sold out very quickly.

German Soccer with the transatlantic bridge is another tradition the club holds close. This year, a group of students met after school weekly with coach Dejan to practice for the big tournament in Pleasanton. Our team ultimately won one game and lost two, but we definitely had lots of fun playing, regardless!

Lastly, one thing we consider very important is promotion of the German language. The German programs were recently canceled in the JLS and Terman middle schools. The club has a major goal of making sure that enough students enroll in German at high school, so that the excellent program can continue. To work towards our goal, throughout the year club members have been visiting students at Terman. One class of dedicated students meets every week before school to learn the language. To reward these students for their inspiring devotion, the club brought the class an authentic German breakfast with cold-cuts and juice, as well as croissants, bagels and donuts. We also played games, had conversations and taught the students some vocabulary. We continue to visit middle-school kids, and speak about our rewarding experiences in the Gunn German Program. It is no wonder that AATG has named Gunn’s program in the top five programs nation-wide.

As Rosanne and I pass on the torch of Deutschklub leadership, we hope next year’s members continue our beloved traditions, and start new ones as well! We can’t wait to see what the club undertakes next year, and are excited to hear about the many great things to come.

Report by Marianne Kvitko and Rosanne Joseph, students of Kerstin Helbing at Henry M. Gunn High School, Palo Alto, CA