Germany -- Summer 2000 SST unit

SST in Eastern Europe

Nearly 400 students have traveled to Eastern Europe with Goshen College's SST program since 1970. Most groups have gone to eastern Germany except for several in the mid-70's that went to Poland.

Since the mid-80's (before the Berlin Wall fell) GC students have gone to Jena in the state of Thüringen.

Directors

Leaders of German SST in 2000 are Sheldon and Janis Sprunger Burkhalter. They pose, at right, in central Jena, where the modern, 36-story Zeiss tower looms over Jena's mediaeval Rathaus.

Sheldon is the director of Church Relations at Goshen College. He studied at Fuller (D. Min.) and Princeton Theological Seminaries, and served 18 years as a pastor before coming to GC. Janis holds a M.A. in education, has taught elementary school and has been in charge of children's literature for Provident Bookstore in Goshen.

Goshen has worked closely with Jenakolleg since 1992. Bernd Zickler and Wolfgang Bathe (on the left and right in this picture) formed Jenakolleg in 1991 to provide cross-cultural study resources for European and North American university students in Jena.

Bernd studied at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Ph. D.), where he also taught language and cultural history. Wolfgang has a masters in German literature and history. Bernd described the arrival of the GC SSTers as the high point of Jenakolleg's year because of the duration and intensity of interaction between students, lecturers and families.