April 26, 2008. In the context of the Elbe Day festivities in Torgau, which commemorate the historic meeting of the U.S. and Soviet armies, Consulate General Leipzig co-hosted a piano concert, which took place in Torgau’s city hall. The event hosted American pianist Jason Paul Peterson, a Fulbright scholar currently studying at the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Weimar. Peterson’s outstanding performance featured music by Robert Schumann, Samuel Barber, and Alexander Scriabin, providing a suitable musical framework to the Elbe Day festivities. The concert, which drew an audience of about 45 music lovers, Consulate contacts and international guests who had come to Torgau for Elbe Day, was a cooperative effort between the city of Torgau and the Consulate. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig welcomed the audience with a short address, as did Torgau’s Deputy Mayor, Osmar Brück.

April 24, 2008. In collaboration with the youth library and the community center, Steinhaus e.V. Bautzen, Consulate General Leipzig participated in “America Day” at the Bautzen children’s library. A morning group of four educators and 41 five- to six-year-old children from a Bautzen preschool assembled in the brilliantly decorated Steinhaus Theater. Featured was the renowned children’s book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, which was read in English by Kjarstin Wenig, wife of Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig, and concurrently in German by head librarian Gariele Bürger. Through question-answer games, songs, and dance, the children learned new English vocabulary and geographical facts. In the afternoon Mark Wenig spoke about the 2008 U.S. election campaign and U.S. foreign policy to an audience of twenty visiting 11th -13th grade student of the Vocational School of Technology, who posed questions about American laws, society, and culture. To conclude the day, Wenig ceremonially presented the Bautzen city library an assortment of books that major U.S. publishers had donated for display at the 2008 Leipzig Book Fair and subsequent distribution by the Consulate.

April 23, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig delivered a 90 minute presentation to 35 students at the Berufliches Schulzentrum für Wirtschaft in the southern Saxon town of Rodewisch. The topic centered on the U.S. primaries and November presidential election. The students, who came from several different classes, are all taking professional career courses and had volunteered to attend this presentation. This was the fourth visit the Consul has made to this school, where the students always display a high degree of interest and appreciation to host a visitor from the Consulate, and who again showed intense interest and asked many questions.

April 22, 2008. Consulate General Leipzig reached out to the public library in Meiningen, southern Thuringia, with its "Meet US" program. Sixteen high school students and their teachers from the Meiningen Gymnasium (high school) participated actively in the program, which greatly contributed to the success of this visit. After Information Resource Center (IRC) Director Thea Bohse introduced IRC products and services, Leipzig American intern Sunshine Moore and staff member Kirsten Teschauer addressed common generalizations made by some Germans about life in American. The entire class joined in during the Q&A session to share their own experiences. The Consulate representatives also presented a donation of books which had come from U.S. publishers for the display at the Leipzig Book Fair, while the students and their teacher were given booklets about the U.S. from the State Department’s Bureau of International Information programs.

April 18, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig gave the opening remarks at this year’s annual "Battle of the Books" competition, which took place at the Leipzig public library, one of the consulate's America@YourLibrary partners. The director of the library, Dr. Arne Ackermann, welcomed the group of about 50 students and their teachers. Since its inauguration four years ago, the Consulate General Leipzig has supported this English language reading and literature competition. This year, 8 schools from 5 federal German states participated – a record number, and pushing the event to capacity – with the Consulate’s region of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia dominating the list of participants. Kerstin Kirschke, an English teacher at the Hildebrand Gymnasium in Markkleeberg, the initiator and organizer of the program, selected the books for the competition and Consul Wenig donated one set of these same titles to the Leipzig public library. Ten Americans, mainly Fulbright teaching assistants, volunteered their weekend to judge the competition.

April 18, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig addressed approximately 40 students and several teachers from Leipzig’s Friedrich Schiller Gymnasium. After introducing himself and the Consulate’s work, Wenig reviewed the presidential candidates, central issues, the function of the Electoral College and provided a general overview of the campaign. He later divided the class into 4 equal groups who each presented questions, which led to a discussion on a variety of issues involving German-American relations.

April 17-18, 2008. Consulate General Leipzig hosted 48 teachers of English at an in-service training conference in Eisenach. The conference, which was co-sponsored by Thuringia’s Center for Political Education, focused on the U.S. presidential campaign, social challenges (e.g. AIDS), arts and society, the legacy of 1968 in the U.S. and Europe, and cultural identity in the U.S. as a multicultural society. The four featured American speakers included Prof. John Dean (University of Versailles) who inspired his audience with vivid examples for good "edutainment." Prof. Paul Rundquist impressed his audience with details gained during 31 years at the Congressional Research Service. Prof. Benjamin Alpers (Fulbright Distinguished Chair for American Literature at Leipzig University), and Paula Ross, an artist based in Berlin, completed this quartet with presentations connecting the topics and demonstrating that all aspects of US society, domestic and foreign, are linked. In addition, Information Resource Center (IRC) Leipzig provided an overview over Internet and print sources on U.S.- related topics, especially the 2008 election.

April 17, 2008. The Magdeburg based German-American Dialog Center presented the 2008/09 winners of a full-year high school program, which brings students from Saxony-Anhalt to the U.S. The program is supported by the U.S. Embassy Berlin and Consulate General Leipzig participated in the selection interviews, which took place earlier this year. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig attended the event and assured the three students, all girls, that an exciting year awaits them, especially with regard to the presidential elections. This high school program is one of the gems brought about by Consulate Geneneral Leipzig’s and U.S. Embassy Berlin’s ongoing support for the German-American Dialog Center Magdeburg, which is headed by Bundestag member Dr. Uwe Küster.