BY REBECCA MENNECKE
Elyse Eckert grew up in the suburbs of one of the most segregated metro areas in the country: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Yet she was immersed in intercultural and international opportunities from the time she was born, thanks to her dad—a German immigrant who first stepped foot on American soil in 1950, when he was only a year old.
Eckert’s dad lived in the U.S. until he was 17, when his family decided to move back to Germany because the family missed the vibrancy of the German language and culture. They missed home.
The year was 1966. Five years prior, the Berlin Wall was constructed—an ideological and physical barrier between a capitalist West and communist East. The wall served as a reminder for 10,315 days in total: People who can’t agree, shouldn’t live together.
It was an environment that was challenging to create a home, so the family moved back to the U.S., where Eckert's dad fought in the Vietnam War, then pursued a college degree thanks to the G.I. Bill, and eventually worked for the University of Wisconsin for over three decades.
Eckert’s dad was determined to give his children once-in-a-lifetime international experiences like he had when he was growing up, so he routinely brought his family on vacations throughout Europe, including Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and—of course—Germany, beginning when Eckert was just eight years old. These experiences taught Eckert to actively seek out people who are from different backgrounds and have different experiences and opinions.
“'For the most part, no one else who I grew up with had those experiences of traveling internationally at such a young age,” Eckert said. “If you really want to experience people who are different from you, you have to go to very specific areas, which is unfortunate.”
When Choosing the Right College, Eckert Wanted to Gain a Fresh Perspective
When it came time to choose a college to further her studies, Eckert’s decision was an easy one. The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities offered the big-city feel she was looking for—a stark contrast to her life in Sussex, Wisconsin—as well as a strong immigrant community and diversity of experiences, backgrounds, and opportunities.
Eckert, like her sister, declared a minor in German. Both had studied the language throughout middle and high school as a way to reconnect with their heritage and their dad, who had become less fluent in the language after years of not speaking it.
“I wanted to keep that language tradition,” Eckert said. “I wanted to keep that language knowledge alive and possibly even pass it down to my children. It felt like I was passing up an opportunity if I were to even learn a different language or not learn a different language at all—it felt like I would be passing up something good.”
Eckert Sought New Experiences Through Study Abroad Program in Germany
Unlike many European countries—whose spring semesters begin in January—Eckert’s semester in Germany began in March.
In early March, she packed up her things and flew from the U.S. to Berlin to embark on a months-long study abroad program, beginning with a three-week immersion program at Freie Universität Berlin (Free University of Berlin) so she could feel more integrated in German life and culture before beginning her formal studies.
But by the second week, whispers of the virus began spreading through her classes. Eckert had no idea what was coming. “There was no actual thought in my mind that it would affect me and my experience in Germany,” she said. “I was shell shocked. I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t really anxious—I mean I was, but more just like, What is happening?"
During the third week of her immersion program, all classes were canceled, and Eckert returned home.
“That summer was hard,” she said. “It was for sure hard, as it was for everyone. It was definitely a low point.”
Forging a New Path Forward
Looking for something to do to keep herself busy during initial pandemic-induced quarantine, Eckert enrolled in a Virtual International Internship through the Learning Abroad Center, where she connected with the Irish Innocence Project, which investigates wrongful convictions of past and current inmates who claim they are innocent.
She drafted responses to inmates looking to have their cases re-examined, learned the differences between Common Law and Codified Law, researched DNA preservation laws in all 50 states to help Ireland draft similar laws abroad, and—perhaps most importantly—she developed her passion for overturning wrongful convictions through DNA evidence.
The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 only fueled her passion to create change. So, she declared her major as Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Justice.
And, she applied for a Fulbright scholarship to teach English in Germany to regain the international experience she lost as a result of COVID-19.
Eckert is one of 15 Fulbright scholarship recipients for the 2022-23 academic year. As part of the program, Eckert will spend almost 15 hours every week in a classroom, providing English language support to teachers in Germany, and the remainder of her free time will be spent exploring, engaging in intercultural opportunities, learning, and connecting with the local community. Though Eckert doesn’t see teaching in her future, she knows it’s a valuable experience.
“It’s not about specifically wanting to work in education,” she said. “It’s about having experiences in schools in other cultures, building relationships with teachers and students and community members in another country.”
And she already has plenty of teaching experience, as she works with the German Immersion School in Minneapolis to help tutor elementary school-aged students as they learn German.
She’ll go from teaching German to English-speaking students, to teaching English to German-speaking students. And, of course, learning more about various cultures abroad.
Pushing for Her Passions
After her scholarship period ends, she plans to remain abroad to experience life in various countries before returning to the U.S. to begin the challenging law school application process.
She hopes to work in public interest law—such as in immigration law, civil rights law, or criminal law—with the goal of eventually becoming a defense attorney.
“I have such a passion for helping people who don’t have any other options, who no one else wants to help,” she said. “I really do have an interest in overturning the death penalty and working on defense for juveniles who have been sentenced to life in prison. Advocating for and amplifying the voices of people who have never had their voices amplified before, or people who it seems like society has forgotten about, the world is working against them.”
“I know where my passions are,” she added, “so I’m not too concerned about where I end up because I know I’ll be doing what I want to be doing.”
