When Stefan Blazen was in high school, he caught the philosophy bug. It turned out that many of the philosophers he was most interested in wrote in German.
“I really wanted to learn the language so that I could read the original texts as well,” Blazen says. Soon after he began learning German, Blazen started dreaming of studying German philosophy in the original language, in the country of Germany. “It sort of became a fascination of mine.”
His interest in German language, philosophy, and culture was also driven by a personal connection. As he learned more about his family origins, he decided that he wanted to explore his German roots, both to understand the country and culture and to better understand his identity.
Blazen’s dreams took shape after transferring to LSA, where he pursued a double major in the Departments of Germanic Languages and Literatures (GLL) and Philosophy, and began seeking out ways to get himself to Germany.
His GLL advisors charted the path. Together they made a financial and academic plan so that Blazen could study abroad in Germany through the Academic Year in Freiburg exchange program. As a first-generation transfer student, Blazen says that he could not have studied abroad without the scholarship resources his advisors informed him about and encouraged him to apply to. These resources—and his advisors’ confidence in him—made all the difference for Blazen.
The World Runs on Mentorship
Blazen says that his time in Germany helped him to gain an international perspective by making him aware of his own identity as an American. In Freiburg, Blazen was welcomed into the German community, and he even had “a little family of my own through the program,” as he describes it.
“I had never left North America before going to live abroad for an entire year,” he says. “It was something I always dreamed of, but it didn't feel possible.”
Blazen returned to Ann Arbor after his year in Freiburg full of a deepened wonder for his areas of study.
Based on the strength and inventiveness of his academic work, one of Blazen’s advisors, GLL faculty member Kalli Federhofer, encouraged him to take on the challenge of writing an honors thesis. And Blazen’s topic was no small challenge: He examined how Germany culturally remembers post-war histories of violence, injustice, and exploitation, and how memorializing these histories nationally might shape contemporary issues in the country.
As his honors thesis progressed, Blazen developed strong mentorships with GLL faculty that sustained his well-being and enhanced his project.
He worked with Professor Silke Maria-Weineck, whose strong intellectual spirit he says was infectious, and with Professor Jon Cho-Polizzi, who, Blazen says, became a personal inspiration, in both his academic work and in the way that he served as a mentor.
“I think the world runs on a small number of people like them—people who truly care about their impact and what they can do for others,” Blazen says.
After graduating with high honors this spring, Blazen says that the wisdom and kindness of the brilliant instructors he had at LSA, in GLL, in the Residential College’s German program, and in philosophy, will be with him always.
This fall Blazen will attend U-M’s Marsal Family School of Education Masters in Secondary Education program. It’s important to him to carry the help he has received forward.
“I had so much support throughout my educational journey and so I would like to serve as a mentor to others. Also coming from my background and as a first-gen student, I know how crucial education is and the role socio-economic factors play. It would be extremely fulfilling for me if I could serve in some sort of role that helps the development of others.”
Photography by Ana-Sophia Stoltenberg
