New York, it has been a pleasure!
Over the course of eight days, we met many inspiring people and gained valuable insights. Swantje Petersen and I traveled to New York with the idea of developing a program titled “New York Finance Cluster” for apprentices at Berufliche Schule St. Pauli and dual-track students. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Heart Foundation for making this trip possible. We are taking the incredible experiences and insights we gathered back home with us.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone for the constructive and creative discussions.
The people, companies, and institutions with whom we hope to launch this special program in 2027 will help create a unique opportunity for the professional development of young talent.
The program will provide participants with insights into one of the world’s largest and most exciting financial hubs.
Thank you for your openness, support, and dedication — see you soon in NYC!
⸻
Chamber of Commerce – Sandra Jones (picture 1)
We spoke with Sandy about the different education systems and the opportunities for students to spend an extended period of time in New York City. We are pleased that the Chamber of Commerce is offering an informational event and look forward to staying in touch.
Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business & Marxe School (picture 2 & 3)
Angelina Delgado organized our participation in a seminar featuring a presentation of research findings followed by a discussion. On the second day, we met with various professors and had the opportunity to take part in a campus tour.
We look forward to collaborating with Baruch College and the Zicklin School of Business. The various opportunities this partnership could offer will be an important part of the program.
We also found it particularly interesting that two of the professors are from Germany. Thank you for your time, Svenja and Frank!
Special thanks go to Anthony Saracco, who took an interest in our program and connected us with Martin Ihrig and Michael Gritzbach. We had the opportunity to discuss various topics with both of them, including the application process and the future development of the program.
Our connection with Martin at NYU opens up further opportunities to expand and develop the program.
It was a special moment to meet Peer Michel Balke, one of our dual-enrollment students at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, in person. Michel spent ten weeks in New York City through Commerzbank.
(picture 4 & 5)
His experience is a great example of how our vision for the future “New York Finance Cluster” program can create valuable opportunities for young professionals.
Berenberg & UniCredit
With Berenberg and UniCredit, we have secured the participation of two internationally active banks in this project. Both will provide insights into different areas of banking and specific financial topics.
Visiting their offices will certainly be a special experience. The views from both buildings are fascinating and impressive.
We would like to thank Isabell Müller and Lea Marie Wesemann, who joined us remotely from Hamburg, for their dedication and participation.
(picture 6)
On the day of our departure, we met with Katharina Katzenberger and Niklas Gebbeken. It was a meaningful conversation, and both of them found their way to New York through very different paths.
(picture 7)
We hope to have the opportunity to meet Christian Steffens in person in 2027. He has shown interest and supported our program from the very beginning, and we would like to thank everyone involved for their support.
UniCredit – Christian Steffens, Katharina Katzenberger & Niklas Gebbeken
We are currently developing a concrete proposal for the 2027 program and look forward to presenting our idea to the Herz Foundation. If you are interested to see more: check our highlight on instagram!
To wrap things up, we would like to quote Alicia Keys and her anthem, which accompanied us at every turn on our journey through New York:
“In New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York
New York, New York“
