Dayon Ketchens is a master’s student at The University of Texas at Austin within the Germanic Studies department. He grew up in a multicultural city which led to his interest in language and the influence of language on the perception of people. Dayon first encountered German in middle school, where he began to learn the language. After graduating high school Dayon went on to get his BA in German Language and Culture, and Linguistics from the University of Pittsburgh. During his time at the university, Dayon spent a semester abroad in Heidelberg, Germany. While in Heidelberg he studied directly at the Heidelberg University and did an internship at the Mark Twain Center – a museum for transatlantic relations between the United States and Germany. Through his time abroad, Dayon gained interest in bridging the gaps between cultures and languages. This interest spread into his studies and ultimately led him to want to seek a position within the TGDP.