With 30 letters and a whole bunch of culture, the German language is an adventure to learn. On the weekend of Feb. 27, some students at West braved the inclement weather and journeyed to Texas State University at San Marcos in order to participate in the German State Competition. The competition always takes place on a Saturday and the competitors leave the Friday before from Plano Senior High School. This time was no different.

“The inclement weather had a substantial impact on our State plans,” German teacher Oliver Ferenshuetz said. “We waited for the last student to arrive, packed everything in the luggage storage, triple-checked that everyone was in attendance and off we went—for about 30 seconds. Then, one of the administrators received a call from district personnel informing us that due to the weather condition we were not allowed to proceed with the trip.”

Fortunately, students at Regionals were granted more pleasant conditions. German students first compete at the Regional level in a contest called “Winterfest” which usually takes place on the last Saturday in January or the first Saturday in February at R.L. Turner High School in Carrollton.

“There are both academic and cultural events,” senior Samyukthaa Saiprakash said. “It’s fun.”

Students competing in German competitions have a wide variety of the events to choose from.

“You can submit food, original models, crafts and art stuff like that,” junior Isabella Tran said. “There are written tests, oral speaking competitions and tons of others too. There’s always something to do.”

At Regionals 19 students from West were able to qualify for the State competition.

“Overall Plano West students did extremely well and we won fourth place in the Cultural Sweepstakes,” Ferenshuetz said.

Students who place first through fifth in qualifying events at Regionals have the opportunity to attend the Texas German State Competition at Texas State University in San Marcos. Many students were disappointed at the inclement conditions and the weather proved to be a major drawback especially since 19 students were on the roster this year, the largest group to ever go to State from West. However, a couple of students were so determined to compete that they got their parents to drive them down to the competition.

Regardless of the size of the group actually competing, students were able to excel in competitive events and were able to enjoy the experience as well.

“German is such a fascinating language and for me personally and I don’t think that any other language could compete with it,” Tran said. “It isn’t as pretty as French is but it’s really interesting and it means a lot to me. I’ve always been dedicated to learning it.”