Active with the TGDP: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026
Jose Cruz was an undergraduate at UT Austin pursuing a double major in Architectural Engineering and German. He was initially introduced and fell in love with the German language during an exchange year abroad with the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program. He had wanted to take a gap year after high school and chose Germany after being fascinated by its rich culture and history. Here, he assimilated into German life and a host family for 10 months. He quickly picked up the language and worked hard towards fluency by studying it. Moreover, he developed interpersonal connections with my host family, community, and other exchange students. He built a broad support system and additionally learned a little more about what engineering in Germany looked like.
Thus, with a deep love for math, creativity, German, and knowledge, he ended up at UT Austin. At UT, he aspired to engage in a future where he can combine his different passions. Shortly thereafter, he discovered the TGDP within the German department. As a Texas native, he was intrigued to come back to his home and simultaneously be able to immediately involve myself with something he had grown to love.
