Ten students receive “Braunschweiger Bürgerpreis” for outstanding achievements A total of 20,000 euros will be awarded
Ten students at Technische Universität Braunschweig received the “Braunschweiger Bürgerpreis” for 2021 for their excellent academic achievements and outstanding social commitment. Due to the Corona pandemic, the 26th award ceremony, which traditionally takes place on St. Nicholas Day, was postponed to the summer and was held for the first time in the Dornse in the Altstadtrathaus.
Seven of the ten awards, each worth 1,500 euros, will be funded with 10,500 euros from the proceeds of the “Stiftung Braunschweiger Bürgerpreis für herausragende studentische Leistungen”, a foundation established in 1996 by the dedicated Braunschweig resident Lieselotte Alter, who died in 2011 at the age of 92. In addition, four TU Braunschweig students in need are supported with a total of 5,000 euros from foundation funds. Three citizens’ prizes of 1,500 euros each are provided by the Soroptimist Club Braunschweig, the Erich Mundstock Foundation and Carl Peter Langerfeldt for the award winners.
The award winners
Christian Schwartpaul is studying Environmental Engineering with a specialisation in coastal engineering. His outstanding academic achievements are evident, for example, in his Bachelor’s thesis, which is already part of a scientific publication. In addition, his voluntary work involves caring for game in a hunting district.
Johanna Wolter has been involved as an elected representative of the German Studies department’s student representation for many semesters. Among other things, she is a tutor for first-year students and has been developing digital event formats since the pandemic. She also organises readings that serve the literary exchange between students and teachers.
Jannis Bosse is studying for a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences and, as a student assistant at the Institute of Geoecology, impresses with the conscientiousness and high standard of his work. Besides his studies, he is involved as a supervisor in the youth fire brigade and in the “Junge Gesellschaft Adenbüttel”.
As part of his studies, architecture student Reza Abdollahi Bidhendi is concerned with architectural designs for socio-politically relevant spaces and events. As a teenager, he was already involved in a private charity organisation in Tehran that works on the social integration of people with disabilities.
Jan de Haan is one of the best students in Psychology at TU Braunschweig. He has been involved in teaching and research for several years, first as a student assistant and, for the past year, as a research associate in the division of methodology and biopsychology. He is also involved in the self-organised “Studiengruppe Biopsychologie” (Biopsychology Study Group) and in the student association MethodAid.
During her studies and as a research assistant, Edona Capric has taken on a great professional challenge: She works on technical topics related to electric flying. She is also involved in the project “S.o.S – Studying without Language Barriers”.
Maria Chekmeneva completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in the top ten percent of her class. In addition, outside of her university education, she is involved in biotope conservation work for the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union of Germany (NABU) and advocated for refugees as part of the Freiwilligenagentur Wolfenbüttel (Wolfenbüttel Volunteer Agency) from 2015 to 2017.
Miriam Sprick, a Master’s student in Biochemical Engineering, stands out not only for her excellent grade point average, but also for her multifaceted social commitment. This includes her work as a youth group leader, as chairperson of the student orchestra AkaBlas, as well as her involvement in helping young people with their homework in Cape Town and in the programme “S.o.S. – Studying without Language Barriers”. She was sponsored by the Soroptimist Club Braunschweig.
In his Bachelor’s thesis at the Institute for Control Engineering, Leon Götz produced results that are directly relevant to current research on autonomous driving. In addition to his studies, he is involved in the Association of German Engineers (VDI) in promoting young talent. He was sponsored by the Erich Mundstock Foundation.
Miriam Mengedoht has been involved in voluntary work since her school days, for example as a trained conflict mediator and as a finance officer and group spokesperson in the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft. She has also been an assistant coach in a sports club for ten years. Her outstanding academic achievements are evident in her Bachelor’s thesis, which is about to be published academically. She was sponsored by Carl Peter Langerfeldt.