It’s a great way to exchange views on technology, study habits and culture. We love doing this.
Every time Markus Hohler comes to Milwaukee, he learns something new.
This year he discovered you can go to the beach in October.
“It was wonderful,” said Hohler, an automotive technology instructor from Giessen, Germany. “We’re enjoying the splendid late summer here. Back home it’s gray and raining.”
For nearly two decades, Hohler has brought a group of German technical school students to Milwaukee Area Technical College as part of an ongoing exchange program with Theodor-Litt-Schule, a school in Giessen, a town of 90,000 people about an hour from Frankfurt in northern Germany.
German students studying automotive technology, mechatronics or industrial machining come to MATC each fall — usually in October, which is National Manufacturing Month — then MATC students visit Germany in the spring.
“It’s a great way to exchange views on technology, study habits and culture,” said instructor Wibke Engelhardt, who has made the trip to Milwaukee almost every year since 2007. “We love doing this.”
The MATC program was created after Engelhardt participated in a teacher exchange between Wisconsin and Hesse, a state in Germany. She became acquainted with several MATC instructors and a partnership was established. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the trips scheduled in 2020 and 2021. The trips resumed in 2022.
This year, 12 students along with Hohler and Engelhardt spent a week learning about MATC’s programs, visiting regional businesses and enjoying Milwaukee’s sights, including Bradford Beach.
On Monday, October 7, 2024, the students visited the Mequon Campus. They climbed wooden poles at the Electrical Power Distribution program’s outdoor training facility and toured the automotive technology classrooms.
“This is great for everyone,” said Jonathan Mies, executive director of the Mequon and West Allis campuses. “We’re excited to show these students what we’re all about.”
John Vallone, an MATC Automotive Technology student who traveled to Germany in the spring, was at Mequon to reacquaint himself with some of the students he met in Germany.
“I loved the experience of going over there,” said Vallone, who will graduate in December and is already taking classes in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “I learned a lot of technical knowledge and saw an impressive amount of automotive history.”
In March 2024, 13 MATC students traveled to Germany, said Jay Grossert, an automotive technology instructor at the Mequon Campus and a member of the trip’s planning committee. Many of the students, including Vallone, were traveling outside of the United States for the first time.
“The kids formed some great friendships,” Grossert said. “We do great stuff; they do great stuff, and hopefully that blending improves everyone. ”
After their day at Mequon, the German contingent visited the Aviation Center, home of MATC’s aviation maintenance program, at the Oak Creek Campus on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. On Wednesday, October 9, they toured the Al Hurvis/PEAK Transportation Center and CNC classrooms at the Downtown Milwaukee Campus, where instructor Chris Chomicki explained the workings of CNC Swiss machines. They also met MATC President Anthony Cruz, Ed.D.
“We get great help from the MATC instructors for this program,” Grossert said. “Their assistance and enthusiasm for showing these students what we have at the college is invaluable.”
Find out more about MATC’s International Education opportunities
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
