By Dan Wegmueller
The Monroe Times
MONROE — Last week, Monticello School District in Green County, Wisconsin, hosted a group of high school musicians and their instructors from Osnabrück, Germany as part of a 2.5-week tour across the United States. The tour group consisted of 60 students and instructors total, representing the Wind Orchestra and Big Band from Osnabrück, Germany, and included homestays with Green County families, a tour of several local cultural points of interest, and culminated with a concert held at Monticello High School.
The Osnabrück group traveled to the United States through the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, which is based in Twin Lake, Mich.
“Since 1966, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp has provided unparalleled enrichment programs for arts enthusiasts of all ages. [We] celebrate creativity, artistry, personal growth, and fun, in a special place where you can be yourself and do what you love,” the camp claims.
In addition, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp facilitates an art-focused international exchange that specializes in connecting overseas schools with host families in the US Midwest, and vice-versa. Participants of the international exchange have visited more than 1,700 different communities in 19 different countries, and thousands of visiting European and Asian students have been welcomed to the United States.
Monticello School District Choral and General Music Instructor Kim Becker, and Instrumental Music Instructor Dawson Babcock, facilitated the 60-person Osnabrück visit to Green County, carefully arranging a host family for each student and instructor. The visit was sponsored by the Monticello Music Parents, and all participants were hosted by a Green County family for the duration of their stay.
“This was such an eye-opening experience. Even though the students are from overseas, we are so similar in so many important ways. We learned so much about their culture just by talking with one another,” said Becker who, alongside Babcock, were instrumental in organizing the Osnabrück visit to Green County. Prior to COVID-19, Monticello School District hosted two groups from overseas. The Osnabrück students represent the first hosting exchange since the pandemic.
The Green County stay was part of a larger 2.5-week itinerary. The Osnabrück group arrived in New York City on June 22. They performed in Boston and visited Niagara Falls before flying to Chicago. The Midwest visit included three Midwest homestays with a performance at each location, followed by a visit to Washington, D.C., before circling back to New York City and flying home to Germany on July 9.
During their stay in Green County, the Osnabrück group visited a number of cultural destinations, including the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, Downtown Historic Courthouse Square, Epic Systems in Verona, and many went 10-pin bowling for the first time.
Among the destinations was a visit to Wegmueller Farm, a Green County destination that aims to connect consumers to production agriculture. There, the Osnabrück students were encouraged to milk a cow, feed the resident pigs, meet the farm animals, and have the opportunity to ride horses and learn about American agriculture in general.
Several students said the agricultural heritage of the Midwest was nice to experience. They each had a chance to participate in various activities, like riding a horse on a working dairy farm.
One Osnabrück student commented on the high quality of food in the Midwest, saying he “did not expect the food to be this good.” Culinary favorites of the group included the variety of cheeses, the authentic experience at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern, and the quality of food at local favorite Pancho and Lefty’s.
When pressed to comment on something unexpected, the students shrugged and only offered, “We do not understand your health care system.”
The Green County portion of the U.S. visit culminated in a concert at the Monticello Gymnasium on Friday, June 28. Both Osnabrück groups played — The Wind Ensemble and Big Band — with an intermission between performances. The concert included a medley of Broadway music, a uniquely challenging Felix Mendelssohn piece, Johann Strauss’ Chit Chat Polka, a tribute to Whitney Houston, a medley of West Side Story, music by Queen, and a vocalist performing a tribute to American jazz performer Ella Fitzgerald, and Birdland.
The students performed with a level of professionalism that can only be derived from a genuine sense of honor, dignity, and personal discipline.
“Those kids performed as though it was an honor to play their instruments,” said one attendee that wished to remain anonymous.
Although the students were only in Green County for a few days, there were heartfelt tears upon departure, as they packed up to head to the next destination.
On of the Green County host families said that in a world, and at a time, that has more than its fair share of challenges, it was nothing short of a breath of fresh air to reach across oceans to foster a genuinely healing connection with a group of musicians and see them welcomed into their homes.
The Osnabrück students and instructors will return to Europe with a positive impression of Green County, Wisconsin, and the genuine hospitality of the American Midwest, their guide said.
It is the desire of Becker and Babcock to continue to host groups of exchange students into the future. Anyone interested in hosting a student or instructor in the future, should contact the Monticello School District.
