SUU Alumna Joins Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Cohort
Published: September 16, 2021 | Author: Lyndsey Nelson | Read Time: 2 minutes
For Southern Utah University Alumna Kennedy Jones, studying abroad in Germany may not have been the original plan, but it has become an exciting reality as she joins the 38th Cohort of the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange program.
The Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) is a fellowship funded by the German Bundestag and U.S. Department of State which offers 75 students from the United States and Germany the opportunity to spend one year in each other’s countries studying and participating in internships. During her time in Germany, Jones hopes to study in German museums and theatres and gain an international understanding of the arts.
“For my time here, I applied as an arts administration candidate,” said Jones.“This means I will be studying arts and arts business and I will look for internships at museums and theatres and other arts and culture institutions.”
Jones graduated from SUU in Spring of 2020 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Classical Acting and minors in arts administration and dance performance. In between graduation and joining the CBYX, Jones worked as a Legislative Attache for the Idaho House of Representatives.
Jones discovered the CBYX while researching study abroad options. The program is divided into three sections; a language intensive, a semester at a German university, and a 3-5 month internship in her field.
“One of the things that drew me to CBYX is that it encourages diversity of study and has participants in a large variety of fields,” said Jones. “It is thrilling to get to be so immersed in another culture and learning another language while still being a representative of my own country. I am really looking forward to all the phases of the program and learning and developing as I complete each one.”
During her time in Germany, Jones will be living with host families in a variety of places as she passes through the various phases of the exchange.
“Stateside I have a wonderful family of only 4 people, here in Germany I am one in a household of 13. As you could probably imagine there is a bit more noise, sometimes a bit more mess, often a bit more chaos, but I have also been overwhelmed at every turn when I find more love, more laughter, and more memories than I could have ever imagined.”
“There are moments when I am completely struck by how wonderful it is that I am here, then there are other moments in which I'm not sure I actually believe that I am here,” said Jones.
Jones will return from Germany in August of 2022. For more information on her time in Germany, visit her website, and for more information about study abroad opportunities at Southern Utah University, contact the Office of Learning Abroad.
Tags: Study Abroad International Affairs