New Schwark family endowed scholarship to help support JYM students
We are pleased to announce the establishment of the “Schwark Family Endowed Scholarship” to support participants in the Wayne State University Junior Year in Munich Program (JYM)!
Sabine Schwark, a JYM alumna from the Class of 1970-1971, has generously set up this fund in honor of her parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Germany. While their higher education was interrupted by World War II, Sabine grew up learning about the importance of an education and she was lucky to have the financial support she needed from her family. There are others, though, who need extra help, especially with the rising cost of college tuition. Sabine’s hope is that this scholarship will support JYMers for many years to come.
Living and studying in Munich
September 1970 to attend the JYM Program.
Sabine remembers her time in Munich with great fondness. She had grown up familiar with the life, language, geography and culture of her parent’s home region in Northern Germany. JYM introduced her to Munich and Bavaria, which she came to love. She has visited Munich more than 10 times over the years and she hopes to return later this year to visit the Christmas markets.
Sabine lived in the “Studentenstadt Freimann” with a German roommate who was studying at the “Hochschule für Musik.” Many other JYM participants lived there as well. They had numerous get-togethers and became fast friends. The U-Bahn had not been built and so they all took the bus to Münchener Freiheit. From there, they transferred to the street cars to get to the JYM office, which at the time was in the Leopold Strasse.
She kept her transcripts as mementos, listing her classes and teachers. At JYM, she was taught by Professors Brandt, Burgauner, Erler, Kaster, Klee and Präg. At the LMU, she took courses on art, modern drama, the works of Thomas Mann and German poets. She has particularly fond memories of JYM Resident Director, Frau Doktor Riegler: “One wonders how she did it, what with new classes every year bringing all sorts of different students, not all of whom stayed out of trouble!”
Sabine still has all the letters (written on thin paper to save on postage) that she sent to her parents and she used them to gather her recollections for this article. At the time, phone calls were too tedious and expensive: you would have to go to the post office and then wait for a cabin in which you would wait for an operator who would make the connection for an overseas call!
Enjoying all that Munich offers
Munich offered an endless variety of experiences. She still has a copy of the JYM Guide to Munich, “Cum Grano Salis,” for which small groups researched and wrote about Munich’s theaters, sports, music, newspapers, shopping and political parties. Favorites for Sabine were the Alte Pinakothek, the Lenbachhaus, the Viktualienmarkt, the beer gardens, the Bayerische Oper, walks in the Englischer Garten, the Weinstuben, seeing the Alps from the top of the Rathhaus and going to the Oktoberfest… every day!
Other fond memories include day trips to Kloster Ettal, Bad Tölz, Neuschwanstein and Nürnberg. The trip to Berlin was a highlight. Sabine recalls how much fun everyone had! There was “the Gala Thanksgiving at the Hotel Regina-Palast . . . We also had several dance parties at the office to the tunes of The Doors, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.” Students in the 1970s could not rely on Spotify to play D.J. Invitations said, “Bitte Schallplatten mitbringen.”
Life after JYM
Sabine returned to the U.S. and finished her senior year at Northwestern University with a major in German Language and Literature. Germany then drew her back and for several years she worked for Lufthansa German Airlines in Düsseldorf. She became so fluent that no one knew she was American. An additional benefit: frequent and inexpensive trips to many places in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Upon returning the second time to the U.S., Sabine attended the University of Southern California where she earned a Master’s Degree in Library Science. She then worked for several years as a law librarian for the DePaul Law School Library in Chicago.
She made a career switch to working for professional associations, all in Chicago, including the Institute of Financial Education, the Bank Marketing Association, the Appraisal Institute and the American Bar Association.
Remembering JYM
at Café Rischart near the Heilig-Geist-Kirche.
In 2005, Sabine returned to her hometown of Milwaukee, where she is now retired from her last job with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She lives in the city, spends weekends at a lake home and still travels to Germany, both as a tourist and to visit relatives in Hamburg, the Saarland and North Rhine Westphalia.
She keeps up with her German by attending a Stammtisch. She and a friend founded Milwaukee’s very first German Stammtisch in 2006. Today, four groups meet at various German-themed locations in Milwaukee and the suburbs. Each group meets once a month for a few hours and sets its own agenda, which may include socializing or a discussion about news items. There are almost 300 people signed up at www.meetup.com. Sabine particularly enjoys seeing other JYM alums at these gatherings.
The next generation of JYM students
Sabine established the “Schwark Family Endowed Scholarship” so that others will benefit as she did from the enriching and truly life-changing experience of living overseas, becoming immersed in a vibrant culture and making life-long friends. JYM thanks her for her generous gift!