Mariel Garcia, EWRE Alumna
Oct. 18, 2016
CBYX for Young Professionals
In my last semester of college I was taking all of my final AREC and ECON courses, wrapping up my degree. As I was prepping for final exams and graduation the truth is that I had no clue what it was I was going to do or where I was going to do it—a feeling I'm sure many of you are currently, or close to experiencing.
I didn't have a job secured directly after graduation. I majored in EWRE and had completed a broad range of internships throughout my four years—I wasn't positive of which specialty I wanted to go into. After about a month out of school, I accepted an internship in San Diego with a Water District. To say I was relieved on the day of the interview to have covered water utility pricing in Thompson's class is an understatement.
This gave me the introduction I needed to realize that the Water Resource industry is where I'd like to be. Fast forward to the end of my internship, as I was searching for permanent jobs (which I was eventually offered, but passed on for this program) I recalled the CBYX program that I had heard of throughout undergrad. The prospect had always been interesting, but the idea of a gap year was intimidating. However, with my degree complete I figured: why not apply? I wholeheartedly believe applying for this program and moving to Germany for a year is the best choice I could have made. Following two months living in Cologne for Language school, I am now residing in Münster. I am studying for a semester here at a Fachhochschule of Applied Sciences, and in the Spring I will begin an internship with a German firm.
To any of you now, whether you're in the middle of your undergraduate career or ready to receive your diploma, I just want to reassure you—it is totally okay if you're not certain of what's coming next. I encourage you to fully explore all of your options, one of which could be applying for this program itself if you're interested.
The Program Itself
The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX) is a fellowship funded by the German Bundestag and U.S. Congress, that annually provides 75 American and 75 German Young Professionals the opportunity to spend one year in each others' countries, studying, interning, and living with hosts on a cultural immersion program. The program is open to candidates in all career fields who are interested in a year of cultural exchange.
The CBYX program is sponsored in the U.S. by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, under the authority of the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961, as amended. The Department of State issues a grant to administer CBYX for Young Professionals to Cultural Vistas, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in New York. Cultural Vistas has administered CBYX for Young Professionals for over 30 years, together with its German partner organization, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
The application deadline is December 1.
You can find the application at: https://cbyx.info/ or http://culturalvistas.org/programs/abroad/congress-bundestag-youth-exchange-young-professionals/