When Chris Howard participated in IUHPFL in 1981 in Krefeld, Germany, Europe was divided between East and West. Chris’s IUHPFL experience was unique in some ways—no longer do students cross significant geopolitical borders as part of their excursions abroad—but in other ways, he got what many students get out of the program: improved language skills and a confidence in himself that carries over to other areas of life.
Chris Howard
Krefeld 1981
Chris is from Valparaiso, Indiana. Growing up, he had German neighbors who had come to the United States after World War II, who, when they learned he’d be going to East Germany and East Berlin as a part of his summer trip, warned him about the authoritarian East German society, saying “Mund zu, Chris, auch im Hotel.” “Keep your mouth shut, Chris, in the hotel, too.” His nervousness increased when his host family and instructors warned him of the dos and don’ts of being in East Germany and of the border crossing points.
When Chris and the rest of the group arrived at the Helmstedt-Marienborn border crossing into East Germany, a silence pervaded the bus. Looking out the window, he saw guard towers and uniformed soldiers carrying rifles. One entered the bus and sternly inspected the group to make sure the students weren’t smuggling in contraband. Luckily, this was not Chris’s last trip to Germany. He went back in 1990, about six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and was able to experience a much more relaxed and friendly atmosphere at the border.
While abroad with IUHPFL, Chris immersed himself in the German language and connected with his host family, his peers in the program, and the instructors. Upon graduating from high school, Chris was able to test into advanced German classes at Purdue. He also felt much more comfortable and confident away from home having already traveled to another country in high school.
Aside from his return trip to Germany in 1990, Chris also went back in 2015 to participate in a course at the Goethe Institut on teaching about Berlin for international German teachers. Just as with IUHPFL, he had a homestay with a couple and had an intensive language immersion experience while there.
Chris now teaches World History and Government with IU High School’s online program. Throughout his career, he has met a couple of other IUHPFL alumni and has kept in touch with some of his own program peers, many of whom also became German teachers.
For prospective participants, Chris says, “This is, by far, one of the most solid programs of its kind we have to offer high school students in the U.S. It is demanding to move to another continent, live with a new family, and speak a different language 100% of the time. The process to be selected is rigorous, but the rewards are worth it. You will never forget this.”
