UA Teacher Candidate, Laura Tellechea (center), successfully passed the final evaluation of her teaching internship for the MA in German Studies with Secondary Teacher Certification on December 5, 2018. Tellechea has interned at Empire High School in Vail for the last four months and worked closely with Dr. Veronica Ostertag as supervising teacher (right) and Dr. Peter Ecke (left) as program supervisor. Ostertag herself is an alumna of the UA’s German Studies and Second Language Acquisition & Teaching Programs. She is directing Empire High School’s German program, which was awarded the “AATG Center of Excellence” title this fall. Ostertag commented about Tellechea’s work: “Laura is ready to be a high school German teacher – no doubt! … [She] went above and beyond the call of duty by participating in home visits, IEPs [individualized education programs], parent-teacher conferences etc. It’s been a pleasure having Laura – I will miss her and her incredible work ethic/support a lot.” Tellechea is the second UA German teacher candidate who student-taught in Empire High School’s fine German program. Ostertag is currently preparing a student exchange within the German AmerIcan Partnership Program (GAPP) and is still seeking support through Tax donations. These can be made at the Vail Tax Credit site by crediting “Empire High School” and “German Trip”.