Intergenerational experiences and friendship

Last year, JYM had several students take part in the program who had a parent, or sibling who had attended JYM before them. The connections are wonderful, and one of our students whose mother went on the program in 1986-87 and whose brother went on the program in 2017-18 shared the connections that are part of JYM for theearbook, here we share Liam's story. 

Intergenerational Experiences & Friendship by Liam McCracken 

My mom, Pat Nester, was a previous JYMer in the year 1986-1987. Because of this, I and my older brother Calvin had always been aware of this incredible program in Germany, one where you live a year and study at one of the best universities in Germany, becoming fully immersed. As the options to learn a language were introduced at my school in the 8th grade, it was a no-brainer choice to select German. However, as the years passed, I became more focused on the hard science classes being offered and stopped taking German classes after my sophomore year of high school.

At this point, I never imagined myself going to Germany through this abroad program that I had always heard about. However, during my senior year winter break, I went with my family to visit my brother Calvin on his Junior Year in Munich. I was able to stay with him in his dorm in StuStadt and really got to see what life might be like in Germany and on this program. That started the gears turning in my brain and I really grew a desire to be a part of the program myself.

After I was accepted to Wayne State, we had to put together a four-year plan for our majors and minors. I decided that I was going to fit in a full year of this program, no matter what. This proved to be more difficult to accomplish than I had planned. I was accepted to the program in the Spring of 2020; however, this acceptance was also met with the Coronavirus. Thankfully I was able to adapt my schedule and go abroad in the Fall of 2021. I had always heard from my mom and brother that their year abroad was one of the best of their lives, a truly transformative year. And boy, did it exceed all of my wildest expectations of how amazing it would actually be. I've met so many wonderful friends this year that I know will last a lifetime, and it's really cool that some of them share those family connections too (several of our mothers even did JYM the same year)! JYM has changed my life and evidently, the lives of so many others too.