For the 2015-16 academic year, Ryan Hellenbrand studied abroad in Freiburg, Germany. Ryan is currently a Senior Honors student majoring in Global Studies and Sustainable Development, and minoring in German. The Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg offered the perfect opportunity to combine his focus areas within the German and Forestry programs. While in Freiburg he studied with the Faculty for Environment and Natural Resources, and examined the ecologic, economic and cultural aspects of forest management. He took classes such as Restoration of Forest Ecosystems, Management of Protected Areas, and Monuments in Forests in which he applied theories of development and human-environment interactions to regional and global issues in forestry. The classes in German allowed him to uncover
connections between literature and culture to the political decision-making processes behind natural resource management. Additionally, he lived these connections in his day-to-day life within the community of Freiburg. By volunteering as a German teacher for refugees and migrants, he helped to bridge the differences between cultures and languages. He extended this to volunteer service with a local community development center, where he helped write their quarterly newsletter and was active in their community garden. Since returning to Boone, Ryan has been working to bring these experiences together through his Honors thesis, his work as a German language-lab instructor, and his active engagement in the Appalachian community.
Story by Garrett Alexandrea McDowell, Ph.D.
Photo by Ryan Hellenbrand
Freiburg, Germany
Freiburg, Germany