From Left to Right: Rene Blaha, George Rodewald, Mike Gegenheimer, Steve Maurer   Rene Blaha (coming soon) George Rodewald was born in Upper Silesia and has many relatives, whom he visits often, still living in Germany. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin in Secondary Education, majoring in German, which serves him well in his volunteer role as Director of the German Language School. Like his three daughters, who sing with the Columbus Kinderchor and dance with a local German folk dancing troop, he enjoys singing with the Columbus Maennerchor, and promoting German heritage and culture in any way he can. Today he is an call center telecommunications manager for a major insurance company. Steve Maurer was born and raised in rural Shelby County in West-central Ohio, where, after three and four generations one could still find German being spoken. Maurer studied German at Ohio State and in Berlin and taught German at Botkins and New Knoxville High Schools. He has since been a mayor, state senator, an executive in the Ohio and US Departments of Agriculture. He is now at USDA and a singer with the Columbus Maennnerchor. Mike Gegenheimer is a native of Columbus, Ohio. His interest in German culture reflects his familial roots, which reach back to the small town of Ittersbach outside Mannheim, while those of his wife are in Karlsruhe and Bonn. Mike and his family have been active members in two German societies in Columbus; for many years he and his children performed with the Germania Dancers, while his children have been singers n the Columbus Maennerchor's Kinder-Jugendchor for which his wife was President. Mike serves as an intellectual property attorney for Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, and is a board member of two other non-profit organizations.