Activities Aktivitäten
What we do.
Seven areas of work, and for almost every one an example from an earlier year.
Scholarship Stipendium
For the first time, the DAG is awarding a scholarship for an exchange year at a private denominational high school in the USA (Catholic or Protestant). We cover the programme costs for one year with CYE Germany (opens in a new tab), from the preparation right through to the flight home; we reserve the right to award two half scholarships instead. The application form opens on 1 September 2026 and closes on 11 November, and everything else is on the scholarship page (German).
Talks Vorträge
Talks and first-hand accounts by members and invited speakers are how we pass on what life in the United States is like and what the options are for staying there. What comes first is what people have learned about the differences and the parallels while preparing for a career and while working in one. We also want to make use of what a university city like Münster has to offer. Talks by visiting professors from the United States and by German academics give our guests and members the chance to get to know both countries in their full range, in culture, business, science and politics, and to experience them. What the two have in common matters here as much as what sets them apart.
An example Natural wonders of the USA: trees to marvel at
A multimedia show reported on the wonders trees perform in the most extreme places. The talk grew out of a photographic journey through California in search of very old trees. Carried by the speaker's enthusiasm for untouched nature and for trees that have stood for up to 4,500 years, it took the audience into a dream world where you could follow the struggle of the giant sequoias, the pines and the cedars at the tree line of the Sierra Nevada. Sequoias, after all, live "only" 2,500 years and grow up to 120 metres tall, but the old pines, which have to endure temperatures between minus 20 and plus 40 degrees Celsius high in the mountains, live longer still. The extreme conditions twist them badly and they look dead, were it not for the sparse proof at the tip of a few branches that there is life in them yet. A collection of huge pine cones and other evidence of nature's wonders was laid out to be picked up and handled. The applause and the lively discussion afterwards showed that the audience had come away with a great deal that surprised them.
Excursions Ausflüge
Our excursions, once a year and by coach, are there to bring this country closer to our American guests in particular, with North Rhine-Westphalia as the natural focus. What we do on them is as varied as where we go. For these trips we bring in knowledgeable company and an expert guide.
An example A trip to Bremerhaven
Together with visiting students from the United States we went to Bremerhaven. After a bite to eat aboard the museum ship we explored the German Emigration Center. A guided tour there gave us an overview of the routes the emigrants took, from Bremerhaven to the United States above all. The most striking part was the faithfully reconstructed scenes on the emigration quay and aboard the various ships that carried millions to the New World in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Concerts Konzerte
For some years now we have begun each year with a concert in January. Students of the Musikhochschule Münster play it on the grand piano. The Residenz am Tibusplatz lets us use its function room for the evening. For the music students it is a welcome chance to bring what they have worked up in their studies before a larger audience. For the residents it is an evening out they are glad to have. And for us, besides the music itself, it is the chance to welcome our members and guests into the new year at a small reception afterwards.
An example The DAG new year concert
At one of our traditional new year concerts, in the rooms of our hosts at the Residenz am Tibusplatz, the hall was especially full, perhaps with some inkling that an outstanding piano recital was in store that evening. After the welcome, the performers, students of the Musikhochschule Münster, were introduced along with the pieces they had chosen. Worth singling out are the five Anniversaries by L. Bernstein, short piano pieces he had written as birthday presents for friends. They were spread across the whole evening. The concert opened with the Prelude and Fugue in G sharp minor by J. S. Bach and closed with Anniversary 5 and the étude on Paganini's La Campanella by F. Liszt. The audience applauded with enthusiasm, and the students were given a small thank-you. A reception with sparkling wine followed in the foyer, for everyone.
Thanksgiving
One high point of every year is Thanksgiving, the American harvest festival. We celebrate it on the fourth Thursday in November, just as they do in the United States. A few things are indispensable: a freshly roasted turkey, a generous buffet of delicacies, salads and desserts our guests have made themselves, and square dancing together under expert instruction. The setting suits the occasion as well, a converted old threshing barn. Besides the food and drink, the dancing and the entertainment, it has been a good tradition for years to put our guests' knowledge of America and Germany to the test with a light-hearted quiz on the geography, culture and history of both countries.
An example The Thanksgiving party in Münster
Close to 100 members, friends and guests had come together for our traditional Thanksgiving party in Münster, among them many Americans and 25 students from Münster's universities. After the welcome by the chairman we were treated to a rendition of the American national anthem. The buffet was opened. The turkeys, raised in Westphalia and smoked and baked at a butcher's in Wolbeck, were carved in front of everyone by the master butcher himself. The splendid roast turkey, together with the salads people had brought and the wonderful American desserts and cakes, made our American friends in particular feel at home. A guitar soloist from the United States then played us concert pieces from the classic jazz era, and after that the square dancing was called.
Looking after students Betreuung
Being close to the university suggests another important part of our work, namely helping American students through what is usually their first stay in Münster and in Germany, and showing them something of this country beyond their studies.
An example A bike ride to Drensteinfurt
A bike ride along the back lanes to Drensteinfurt for our American student.
Advice Beratung
In the other direction, we also want to give German pupils, students and interns who are interested in an exchange programme with the United States help with the organising and with the cost.
An example A year at a high school in the USA
The German-American Society held an information event about spending a year at a high school in the United States. Eight pupils spoke about their own experience and took questions from an interested audience. Around 60 young people and parents had come to the Gymnasium Paulinum. They learned a great deal worth knowing about a high school stay. The guests described their impressions from a range of angles. All of them were pupils from Münster and the surrounding area who had already spent time at a high school in the United States, placed there by various organisations. Afterwards they answered questions from the floor. They talked about life with a host family or in a boarding school, about settling back into German schools, and about what a pupil in the United States does with their free time. The chairman of the German-American Society of Münster added further tips and suggestions for making a high school stay in the United States a success. A collection of leaflets introduces the various organisations that arrange such stays.
Join in Mitmachen
Want to be there next time?
Our events are open to guests as much as to members. What is coming up next is on our German homepage under „Aktuelles“.