Awards Go To Both Coasts!
For the now third consecutive year, the German-American Heritage Foundation has selected two recipients from a growing pool of candidates for our $2,500 Maria Tillmann Geschwent Scholarship Program thanks to the generous support from Christel and Ronald Tillmann who are honoring Mr. Tillmann’s late mother.
This year, the awards go to two amazing students, one from the East Coast and one from the West Coast, highlighting their impressive academic achievements and German American family heritage, as well as their German language skills and German cultural connections. The candidates were chosen through a rigorous application scoring process by GAHF’s Scholarship Committee from a field of very capable candidates. These scholarships are designed to defray the tuition, fees, or other costs of attending a U.S.-accredited college or university. Students majoring or minoring in German have preference in consideration for funding, but GAHF welcomes all majors and academic disciplines. The scholarship committee is chaired by board member Tobias Muench.
The two 2025 awardees are:
Emma Strauss is extremely grateful and excited to be chosen as a 2025 GAHF Maria Tillmann Geschwent Scholarship recipient. This scholarship will allow her to continue her studies in the International Business Dual Degree program at North Carolina State University. Emma was born in Germany, yet grew up in Charlotte, N.C. She will leverage her German heritage to pursue a business degree while maintaining her proficiency in the German language, which she plans to utilize during the study abroad component of her program in Germany.
Max Troppmann graduated from Jesuit High School in Sacramento, Calif., in the spring of 2025, and he will be attending Yale University starting in fall, where he intends to major in mechanical engineering. Upon discovering that he was chosen as a recipient of the German-American Heritage Foundation’s Maria Tillmann-Geschwent Scholarship, he immediately shared the very exciting news with his parents. He is deeply grateful for the GAHF’s recognition of his commitment to his German heritage. Max looks forward to fostering his German language skills and heritage by continuing to read the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, watching the daily Tagesthemen newscast, and joining other German-speaking students at the Stammtisch on campus.
Max Troppmann (2nd from left) with GAHF board members Tobias Muench (left) and Jürgen Utess and GAHF member Ulrich Pelz in Sacramento
Max Troppmann (2nd from left) with GAHF board members Tobias Muench (left) and Jürgen Utess and GAHF member Ulrich Pelz in Sacramento