News Archives - 2000

Dwayne Lowman, son of Patricia Lowman of Bloomington and a 2000 graduate of Augsburg College, is the recipient of the 2001-2002 Ambassadorial Scholarship in the amount of $25,000 from the Rotary Foundation. Lowman will attend the Universtat Ulm in Ulm Germany beginning in July. While in Germany he will study politics or theology.

In preparation for his academic year in Germany, Lowman left for Munich, Germany last month in order to partake in study sessions to learn the German language. He will then come back to the United States before actually starting the Universtat.

When he returns to Germany in July, he will attend the Universtat Ulm. In addition to working on his studies, he will travel to various Rotary Clubs and talk about his experiences in Minnesota. Lowman said he will be more or less acting as an ambassador for the United States. At the same time, he will learn about the culture in Germany and when he returns to the United States, he will share that information with Rotary Clubs in Minnesota.

"Learning a new language will be a challenge," Lowman commented. He said he has a learning disability, which made it hard for him when he was young to speak and construct sentences. Language, he added, has always been complex. Learning a foreign language will be a "challenge."

He said he hopes this experience will help him to empathize with the many people who come to the United States from a foreign county and do not speak English.

"There are more and more people immigrating," Lowman said, "and this will always be an issue."

Lowman said he is also looking forward to the service component his time in Germany will allow him.

"This will give me an opportunity to talk about the things I've done as well as learn from others," he said. "It's not just an educational experience, but a service one as well."

Lowman added that this exemplifies the true spirit of what he learned while at Augsburg College. When Lowman returns from Germany, he plans on pursuing his Ph.D. and will continue his public service work.

"The challenge will be how to take what I learn and give it back to the community."

Lowman said that his time at Augsburg College taught him that a disability is not a brick wall that one can't get through, rather a challenge one should learn to climb over.

Lowman has served as president and chair of the West Bank Community Coalition, a community organization of which Augsburg College is part. He has also served as a volunteer at the Wednesday Night Out program; organized the 1999 Night Out Celebration for the Cedar-Riverside community; worked with the FANS program at the Brian Coyle Community Center; and interned at the Minneapolis Consortium of Community Developers.