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Cast your net wide and never compromise on things that are most important to you.
Professors care and show interest and that, for me, pushes me to not disappoint them.
From study abroad, I learned that there are things equally, if not more, valuable than the classroom.
Junior
Saint Charles, Illinois
Psychology Major, German and Business and Management Minors
From French to German and then back to English, Esther Farler-Westphal
chose Knox not just because of the academic opportunities that awaited her,
but because she would be able to think for herself in whatever language she chose to use.
As a first-year student, Farler-Westphal received a Richter Scholars award to travel in Germany to examine the global business market in relation to American and German cultures. And, through the experience she realized that she stumbled upon a much larger project.
"I am trying to understand which aspects of the culture have been affected the strongest and why the Germans have readily accepted the influence of the English language, American clothing, literature, food, and other things of cultural importance."
Farler-Westphal is currently reading texts by German authors and artists to understand the history of German-American relations and American business in Germany. The studies will culminate into a research paper written in German that she will work on with Todd Heidt, visiting assistant professor of modern languages-German.
"When I traveled to Germany (Mönchengladbach, Cologne, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Berlin, and Düsseldorf) for a month, I spoke to Germans about the Anglicization of their culture." Farler-Westphal's continued research will help contribute to her work in her German and Business and Management minors.
