The history of German in our school is very apparent with part of our alma mater being “Uber Alles” meaning “Germany above all.” This leads to our German program at the high school which teaches students the High German dialect to support a cultural heritage in our town, as well as learning a language that will help students if they ever go to Germany or want to learn harder languages.
The current German teacher at Fredericksburg High School is Kathy Ferriere who wants to continue spreading the German language through teaching. This is an opportunity many students have taken up either because of their heritage or because of the future opportunities it may provide.
“I love my subject matter,” Ferriere said. “I love to share what I know with my students because I think it prepares them for more analytical challenges later in life.”
Ferriere has been teaching at FHS since 2020 after her son graduated that year, although she taught at Round Rock and Fredericksburg throughout the 90s. She says that German helps students in many ways besides learning a new language.
“German is very technical in certain aspects,” Ferriere said. “Which is why I think it’s complementary to many other difficult classes they’re taking or may take in the future.”
It’s not only Ferriere who enjoys learning German, her students do too.
“I’ve enjoyed taking German for the past four years,” senior Reid Nevins said. “It has been a great opportunity to learn a new language.”
However, the upper-level German classes almost didn’t happen because more people needed to sign up, but a story was published in the paper about how the class would need more people. This caused outrage among many German professors worldwide, who emailed Ferriere and the school causing the class to be reinstated for anyone who wanted to take it.
“At first I was worried that I spoke to the paper about upper-level German not having enough people,” Ferriere said. ”I was surprised when three and four were reinstated with the option of taking German one at the middle school.”
This doesn’t mean the school doesn’t support or want to get rid of the German program, in fact, according to Ferriere, they support the program as much as they can.
“I think the school supports the German language,” Ferriere said. “Because it is a technically difficult language to learn for students.”
Even though the possibility of the class not making, students still enjoyed the class and hoped to use the language in the future.
“Through learning German has given me the confidence to go back to where my family is from,” Nevins said. “I’m planning on going for my senior trip right after I graduate in May.”
Many who have learned the language their ancestors spoke can attest it can connect you to your roots.
“Learning German has helped me connect with my roots,” Nevins said. “My family was from the German-speaking part of Switzerland before migrating to America.”
As many at the school and in the program can attest Ferriere is excited and grateful to teach and expand the program in the future.
“Both German three and four along with the class at the middle school needed to happen,” Ferriere said. “I am grateful for the community support to bring the program back regardless of class size.”
