It’s a summer like no other for two River Ridge High School students who are taking off for Germany to work at Mercedes Benz.
Arielle Pfaff has been looking forward to traveling to Germany all her life.
“We have descendants from Germany, so I think it’s cool to get back to where your roots are,” said eleventh-grade student Arielle Pfaff.
Pfaff is one of two students chosen to go to Germany to intern at Daimler’s Mercedes Benz Manufacturing Plant. Because Germany is considered a champion in the industry, she started learning the language in addition to her engineering classes. However her interest goes further than that -- she has hosted two German exchange students.
“We went bowling, shopping, a lot of shopping, and then food, they wanted to try the American cuisine,” she said.
In less than a month she’ll be reunited with them and getting an experience she craves.
“I’m seeing a different culture, I’m experiencing it, it’s not something you can watch on the history channel.”
In the program students will learn about the operations as well as see training first hand. Pfaff hopes it will give her an educational advantage.
“They’re connected to two colleges that I’m interested in, one in Mannheim and one in Freiburg, those connections will help me get closer to being accepted there,” she said.
The students will be leaving for Germany in a few weeks and will be staying there for a month.
River Ridge High School has been hosting a German exchange program for 15 years but this will be the first time its students get to visit the country.