Linsly student one of 37 National German Exam Scholarship winners in the US

WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) — How much of your high school foreign language classes do you remember today?

For most of us…it’s probably just ‘un poco.’

But in just his second year studying German, a Wheeling freshman is drawing national attention for his command of the language.

If you’re looking for Teutonic tongue-twisting terminology…Connor Phillips is your man.

The Linsly student has conquered the long words and the umlauts to become one of West Virginia’s most accomplished German students.

In just ninth grade, he’s become the Mountain State’s only winner of the National German Exam Scholarship.

His written and spoken proficiency has earned him a three-week German vacation, where he’ll be staying with a host family, and glimpsing centuries of old-world Bavarian history.

He’s only in his second out of five years of language classes, but says he developed an affinity for the compound words and the sharp ‘S.’

“German class was never really something I considered. But whenever I was able to observe one and see how much the culture, how much I enjoyed it and see how the class was run, it just sparked me.”

Connor Phillips, Won National German Exam Scholarship

As one of just three dozen scholarship winners in the country, his skills carried him through multiple rounds of elimination.

Not only did he have to score in the 90th percentile on a German exam.

Not only did he have to be judged on his reading, writing and listening.

But he had to be selected by a national committee as a standout speaker.

It’s a ladder of accomplishment that the Linsly School and its early focus on foreign language helps students to climb.

“He’s very smart, he is like a sponge, and German just came or is coming naturally to him…It’s like he was just born German.”

Regina Bauer, German teacher at Linsly

Connor’s transatlantic trip may be happening when school is out, but it won’t be just for pictures.

He’ll be enrolling at a high school where they don’t take off for summer.

He says exploring the castles of southern Germany will even influence his future legal career.

“International lawyers, that’s a big industry and a lot of them require knowledge of not just English, but another language. So German can actually become really useful for that.”

Connor Phillips, Won National German Exam Scholarship

He may live 42-hundred miles from the Spree River and the Reichstag, but Wheeling can claim its very own West Virginia wunderkind, and he’s opening his books in the Linsly bibliothek.

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