(Posted April 20, 2009)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Laura Sweltz, a senior at Juniata College from Johnstown, Pa., studying multimedia studies, was one of 75 students nationwide to receive a scholarship to participate in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals, a program that places students in yearlong internships with German corporations.

Sweltz, the daughter of Ken and Gay Sweltz of Johnstown, will leave for Germany in August to attend an intensive language school in Cologne, Germany, for two months. After her language school requirement and a four-month course of classes in her career field, Sweltz will be placed for a five month-long internship with a German company.

"I'd like to work in a company with technology training or perhaps in a multimedia position at an advertising agency or a media company."

Laura Sweltz, senior, Johnstown, Pa.

"I'd like to work in a company with technology training or perhaps in a multimedia position at an advertising agency or a media company," Sweltz says.

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange was initiated in 1983 by the United States Congress and the German Bundestag in celebration of the 300th anniversary of the first German immigration to North America. In the U.S., the program is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State. In Germany, the program is funded through the Administration of the Bundestag and administered in Germany by InWEnt: Capacity Building International.

The scholarship marks a return to Germany for Sweltz, who studied abroad at Philipps University in Marburg, Germany during the 2007-2008 academic year.

At Juniata, Sweltz worked as the student training manager at the college's TLT Center, a student-run media lab during the 2006-2007 and 2008-2009 academic years. She also worked as an intern at Concurrent Technology Corp. in Johnstown, Pa. in summer 2007.

Sweltz is vice president of the German Club and co-hosts a two-hour radio program, "Radio Schnitzel," on the student radio station WKVR-FM.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.