Kaja Gregorc received the 2017 DAAD Prize during the New Year reception of the University of Konstanz Alumni Association (VEUK). Rector Professor Ulrich Rüdiger (left) and Dr. Johannes Dingler, director of the International Office, were present to congratulate her.

Kaja Gregorc receives DAAD Prize

Multilingualism student receives award for outstanding academic accomplishments and extracurricular engagement

In response to the question about what she enjoys the most about the multilingualism study programme at the University of Konstanz,  Gregorc simply answers: “Everything”. That Kaja Gregorc enjoys linguistics and is a natural candidate for this subject is obvious from the moment one looks at her background. At the age of twelve, she went to live in the USA for a year with her parents. At fifteen, she moved to Germany and spent three years at an international school in Munich. After graduating high school in Slovenia, she returned to Germany to study at the University of Konstanz.

The DAAD Prize was created for students such as Kaja Gregorc. Working towards excellent grades does not mean that she spends all of her time behind a desk at the university. Kaja has improved upon the above-average grades that she earned during her bachelor studies with her current master studies grade point average. Her hard work did not keep her from volunteering twice a week to help train girls between the ages of six and ten years in volleyball at the local sports club in Dingelsdorf. She started to participate in charitable projects as a pupil at the Ravne na Koroskem high school near the Austrian border.

Kaja has reduced her extracurricular activities recently in order to complete her last degree requirements. She would like to pursue a doctoral degree afterwards. Her thesis and an internship at the Center for Multilingualism at the University of Konstanz are the only remaining steps left before she completes her master’s degree studies. She completed her previous internship as a student assistant in the project “Mehrsprachigkeit in Kitas und Schulen” (multilingualism in daycare facilities and schools). 

Kaja spends her summers back home in Slovenia to support her family in hosting vacationers who stay at their farmstead. It was easy to select Konstanz as her latest international home. Her boyfriend had been studying at the University of Konstanz when she joined him here in 2013: “I am happy. He selected a wonderful location for university studies!”