Rotary Club Grafschaft Moers honours

Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, February 4, 2015: For the first time, the Rotary Club Grafschaft Moers has bestowed a scholarship award on Rhine-Waal alumni. In an official ceremony, Saskia Sattler and Felix Sohnrey were each presented a €500 scholarship award by the president of the Rotary Club Grafschaft Moers, Dr. med. Wilhelm Kirschke. The award was given in recognition of the alumni’s exemplary academic performance and social commitment.

Alumna Saskia Sattler, who was also previously awarded a scholarship from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, excelled in all areas of her studies at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. She completed numerous internships in both Germany and abroad during her studies, as well as a semester abroad at the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen (HAN) in Arnhem, the Netherlands. During her studies, Ms Sattler often focused her time and energy on student affairs: “During my studies, I really enjoyed being a voice for students’ concerns within the Appointment and Education Qualification Committees at Rhine-Waal, as well as working as a mentor-tutor for students.” The award also recognised her excellent bachelor’s thesis, which she described: “My bachelor’s thesis looked at how SMEs in the South-Westphalia region can best attract and retain qualified employees when faced with ongoing demographic shifts and an acute regional shortage of specialists.” Backing her work with an empirical study, Ms Sattler demonstrated how the concept of employer branding can be used to showcase the best qualities of a company and thus attract – and keep – highly-qualified specialists to the region.

Alumnus Felix Sohnrey was also awarded for his excellent achievements both in and out of the classroom. As a student at Rhine-Waal, Mr Sohnrey took a leading role in university politics, including working as the vice-president of the Students’ Parliament (StuPa) and as the election supervisor for the elections of StuPa and of the Student Representative Committees. Mr Sohnrey was also active as a mentor-tutor for students and an undergraduate assistant at the university. While enrolled at the university, Mr Sohnrey gathered extensive experience abroad: in Guatemala he helped support the construction of a hospital ward as part of a student project, he spent a semester at the Mondragon Unibersitatea in the Basque region of Spain, and he studied a year abroad in Australia. In his bachelor’s thesis, Mr Sohnrey analysed Germany’s role in the European recession, particularly with regard to the German economy’s reliance on exports. His empirical and well-founded analysis offers valuable insight into the turbulent and ongoing economic crisis in Europe.

After graduating from Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, both Ms Sattler and Mr Sohnrey chose to continue their studies in the graduate programme “Philosophy, Politics and Economics” at the Witten/Herdecke University in the nearby Ruhr region of Germany.

Photo caption:

Saskia Sattler and Felix Sohnrey (centre) receive their scholarship awards from members of the board of directors of the Rotary Club Grafschaft Moers