German exchange founder honored by State Dept.

Elsa Nicolovius with Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Stroh. (State Dept. photo)

The United States Department of State honored retired Canton High School German teacher Elsa Nicolovius with its 2019 Citizen Diplomacy Award at a ceremony held in Washington, D.C., last week.

The Citizen Diplomacy Award was created in 2017 to recognize American citizens and organizations that are leading efforts to renew and strengthen important international relationships that further U.S. foreign policy. Nicolovius was selected in honor of her work with the German exchange program with St.-Georg-Gymnasium academic school in Bocholt, Germany, that she started 41 years ago at CHS. It is the longest continuous exchange between German and American high schools.

Nicolovius was born in East Prussia, a region that was part of Germany at the time and is now part of Poland. She lived and attended school in Wiesbaden, Germany, a city that is the capital of the state of Hesse. She met her husband, Joseph Scionti, who was stationed at the military base in Wiesbaden while he was serving in the United States Army Air Force. Scionti was taking college courses on the base through the University of Maryland. Nicolovius and Scionti met one evening when a friend invited Nicolovius to attend an English lecture. They married in Germany and moved to the Boston area, where Scionti had grown up.

Nicolovius began her teaching career at Canton High School in January of 1977. “The next year, I applied to the School Committee to begin the exchange,” she said. “The students I had were eager to begin.”

She selected St.-Georg-Gymnasium to partner with Canton High School through information provided by the Goethe-Institut in Boston. “It seemed to be a good fit,” she explained.

German students and their teachers arrive in Canton every October during their two-week fall break; CHS students then travel to Germany during the April school vacation week. The two schools have maintained their connection since the first year of the exchange. “Not one interruption,” Nicolovius said. “That is what is rare.”

Nicolovius estimated that she has taken 800 students to Bocholt and that over 2,000 people, including host families and volunteers, have experienced the benefits of the exchange program.

“The trip and the preparation really broaden the horizon for these young people,” she said. “Generally it’s the first time outside of the country, the first time away from parents. At that age, it’s really important to see something else and not be in Canton. The 17 year old is accepted into the family on both sides of the Atlantic. All your life you can travel, but never again can you be part of a family at that age, and that’s a valuable experience.”

The Goethe-Institut in Washington, D.C., nominated Nicolovius for the State Department award and she was notified of her selection several months ago.

“I was nominated and I was just totally surprised when I received mail from the State Department,” she said. “I’m very pleased with it. My life has been kind of half and half (between Germany and the United States). The work that I do here and with students brings the two together. I am very happy to take the American students to another place in the world and then the other way around.”

The German government honored Nicolovius several years ago for her work with the exchange by awarding her the German Cross of Merit, the highest award that the country gives to civilians.

The State Department paid the costs of Nicolovius’ trip to Washington last Wednesday. Her son, Constantine Scionti, daughter, Lorelei Scionti, and granddaughter Samantha Scionti accompanied her. In addition to the Thursday afternoon ceremony, she took part in discussion groups around the topic of culture and had a chance to meet with Marie Royce, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs.

The hundreds of students who have traveled to Germany with Nicolovius include the children and grandchildren of former students. “If you wonder whether a program like that has lasting value, that tells you that it does,” she said.

Nicolovius continues to work at CHS with the exchange. She is making plans for the 42nd group of students from Bocholt who will arrive in Canton this October.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=58858

Posted by Mary Ann Price on Jul 19 2019. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.