TOP Timeline: Celebrating 20 Years of Growth and Education

2002: TOP was founded as a public/private partnership based at the GoetheInstitut in Atlanta, Georgia, by an agreement between the Federal Foreign Offi ce of Germany, the GoetheInstitut, and Deutsche Bank AG.

2009:

TOP publishes It’s Up to You & Me, Here & Across the Sea student workbook about climate change for elementary classrooms.

2013:

TOP publishes the fi rst editions of Let’s Explore Modern Germany and Germany in Focus.

2013: The number of TOP Study Tour alumni exceeds 1,000!

2005: The Robert Bosch Stiftung became a TOP Partner.

2007: TOP publishes two online multimedia games, Save Our Schule and Race 4 the Future. 2014: TOP sends its fi rst social studies/STEM hybrid Study Tour group to Germany.

2017: TOP initiates its fi rst “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” focus group comprised of TOP Alumni.

2008: TOP publishes the Field Trip to Berlin DVD.

TRANSATLANTIC OUTREACH PROGRAM

YEARS

2013: Siemens AG becomes a TOP Partner. TOP expands its mission to include STEM educators and launches its fi rst “VIP” Study Tour about apprenticeship in Germany. 2021: TOP coproduces four animated short fi lms about the 2021 Bundestag election with the Bertelsmann Foundation of North America.

2018: The Wunderbar Together Year of German-American Friendship begins. 2020: In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, TOP launches its fi rst virtual Study Tour. Over 1,000 educators participate that summer. 2022: TOP publishes the second edition of Let’s Explore Modern Germany.

2019: TOP Study Tours include educators from all 50 U.S. states during one summer for the fi rst time.

2019: TOP sends its fi rst Study Tour comprised of technical/community college professors.

2019: TOP partners with the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA) of the New America Foundation to conduct its fi rst binational Study Tour with stops in both Germany and in the Charlotte, North Carolina, region.

2019: TOP publishes its three-part German History Scavenger Hunt fi lm on YouTube, and the second edition of Germany in Focus in the Inquiry by Design Model (IDM) format. 2022: The Atlantabased The Halle Foundation awards TOP with funds for two specifi c Study Tour projects, including the fi rst-ever TOP Study Tour consisting of preservice educators from Georgiabased Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

2022: TOP launches its fi rst-ever online-only resource for STEM educators about environmental sustainability.