Haddonfield Memorial High School’s German language program has for several years offered students with proficiency in the language the ability to take the national German exam, which allows students the opportunity to win medals and be awarded scholarships and opportunities to travel to the country.
Anna Feinleib is the German teacher at the school who oversees the tests, usually given to juniors and seniors who’ve attended German classes in borough middle schools and the high school. This year, sophomore Owen Snyder earned a 99% on the exam, making him a gold medal winner for 2025, one of five in Haddonfield.
“So I actually didn’t realize that this would be this kind of big competition,” Snyder said. (My teacher) told me that we were doing some German tests in class, and so I was really excited. I enjoy doing these standardized tests. So I went in, didn’t really have many expectations, took the test. I didn’t think I did all that well. Actually, I wasn’t super confident coming out of it.
“And yet, we got 99%,” Feinleib added with a chuckle.
Placing as highly as he did gives Snyder the opportunity to compete against other German students across the country for an all-expenses-paid trip to that country this summer. Snyder was the only Haddonfield gold medalist to receive the scholarship this year.
After the exam, students who achieved high scores had several other steps to go through to earn the trip scholarship, including an interview, which Snyder revealed was the most nerve-wracking part of the application process.
“I was really nervous about the interview that was, I think, the most difficult stage of the whole process,” he acknowledged, “because I had to be better than all the other students at the school. There are a lot of good German students at the school. I knew I had to put my best effort forth.
“It was very stressful, I was very stressed going into it. I guess I did well.”
The next step in the process was the Seal of Biliteracy Test. Snyder’s score has not yet been released, but an announcement is expected next week.
The trip to Germany will last three weeks, from June 24 to July 14. The first two weeks are spent living with a host family and attending a German school in Kulmbach, Bavaria. The final week is spent in Berlin, where students will have the opportunity to sightsee and explore German culture outside of the classroom.
Snyder will be accompanied by 11 other students who made the scholarship cut, as well as a chaperone chosen from German teachers in U.S. schools. The scholarship and trip funds are all underwritten by the German government.
Snyder said he’s always wanted to travel to the country to engage with German culture and people on a deeper level, as well as challenging himself to get better at the language. He also expressed interest in having a host family that speaks little English so he can challenge himself.
“It would definitely improve my German skills” he said. “Yeah, that’s also one of the goals … to have some real-world experience talking German that’s outside of the classroom, because the classroom can only take me so far. I really want to practice talking to native German speakers in real life situations. That is completely different.”
In addition to teaching German and overseeing the exam every year, Feinleib also runs exchange trips to Germany with junior and senior students through her partners from the American Association of Teachers of German. She says that while there is a culture shock for both American and German students, the former feel it more.
“The general population knows less about Germany than, say, Germans know about the United States,” Feinleib explained, “because of the Hollywood influence, all the TV shows and all the other stuff.”
While it’s still early, Snyder has already looked into colleges with study abroad programs and applied for school-run German trips, and he doesn’t anticipate his trip this summer – only his second time outside of the U.S. – will be his last international trip.
“I know Germany has a lot of good universities, good engineering programs, science programs, and so I definitely would like at least the opportunity to go have an internship there, maybe have a job …” he said. “Something like that, that would be amazing.”
