Legends Among Us: Alumni Spotlight - Michael Schneider-Christians

Alumni Spotlight

Michael Schneider-Christians, AIESEC Wilhelms, Germany

We are pleased to introduce you to Michael Schnieder-Christians who has been an active alumnus within our AIESEC community.  Michael hails from Wilhems University in Germany and currently resides in South Florida.  Michael has been an integral part of the Florida Gulf Coast University AIESEC extension.  Please enjoy the following story as submitted by Michael himself. 

AIESEC Makes Everything Possible

By Michael Schneider-Christians

Michael and his wife, Verena, will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary next year.

And here this long exciting story goes!   In the fall of 1969, I started the business school at Wilhelms University in Muenster Germany.  I was always interested in foreign countries and so I found out about the local AIESEC office. I contacted them in 1970 and told them my interest.  It took a while to get back to me, but a few weeks later the South Africa offer came across their desk, and I jumped on it.  I would stay with a family and work for 2 months at Pick’n Pay headquarters on Lansdowne Rd.  

I arranged the flights and got in touch with the AIESEC office in Cape Town at UCT to find out the details.  When I arrived, an issue had developed.  The designated family for my stay had to cancel for medical reasons.  So, I stayed for a few days with the AIESEC office leader at the time, Malcom Farquharson.  Another family was not easy to find, so Malcom asked his parents, if they would take me in for the 2 months.  They did.  Hurrah.  What an experience that was.  A fine family with civil rules and daily plans.  He was a retired civil servant; she was still a professor at UCT for religion and literature.  Their long-time housekeeper Crissy was a darling, doing my washing, preparing my daily breakfast and I joined the family dinner at 6 PM sharp.  It was a candlelight dinner every night.  Nancy rang the bell for Crissy to know when dinner needed to be served. 3 courses always!  I was highly impressed by such fine hospitality.  We talked about my family and my experiences in Cape Town,

Every workday morning, I walked from their home to Lansdowne Road and worked through all Pick ‘n Pay departments, even meeting the CEO level leaders, including Mr. Ackerman himself.  For 3 weeks I was made manager of the fruit and veg. department.  A highly interesting task, as merchandising and pricing need to be adjusted nonstop and daily. By the way, even today in grocery stores I place cans and tins with the label face to the aisle, if that is not done correctly, I learned it from Pick ‘n Pay in detail. 

Every Friday all AIESEC students met at the pub, Forester Arms, to get together for some fun and to discuss experiences of our AIESEC days in Cape Town.  Most of the students in those years were young men.  To make the Friday event more interesting, AIESEC arranged for the students from the UCT foreign language department to be present and add to their language skills.  

This is the moment our story begins.  At one of the AIESEC student at foreign language student meetings I met Verena, liked her from the first moment and asked her out for the next evening.  

That was about 3 weeks into my time in Cape Town.  From then on, I was invited to Verena’s home often and Verena offered me her car for the week, so I could drive to Lansdowne Road.  Verena’s grandparents picked her up from uni and drove her home every day, so they could see their daughter and son-in-law often.

We fell in love then.  I celebrated my 25th birthday at Alphen Farms with Verena.  

The day of departure came after 8 weeks, and I went hitchhiking from Cape Town to Johannesburg to catch my flight back home with a few days in Krueger for Safari times. 

Verena went to work to earn money to buy a ticket to Germany after many letters during the year of separation.  Verena arrived in July 1972 at my parents’ home, and we planned what to do next.  I had a minimum of 4 semesters to go to graduate.  Verena stayed with me and my family working at the Muenster University dental department as an assistant to the professor. 

I graduated with an MBA in April of 1974, and we decided to get married. We had been in Paris for our engagement on New Year’s Eve 1973/1974.

The wedding happened on July 27th 1974 at St. Cyprians School, which Verena had attended for 6 years as a border.

We resided in Wuppertal Germany, where I worked several businesses and where our two daughters, Vanessa and Valerie, were born.

We also became AIESEC student hosts.  We had a student from the Philippines and from Iceland stay with us for 3 months, Janet in 1976 and Eggert in 1977.  Hear, Hear.  We are still in touch with both and have visited both several times over the many years.  We are also still in touch with Malcolm Farquharson, who now resides in the UK.  AIESEC connections turn out to be forever!

I always dreamed of living in a warmer climate than Germany has.  So we emigrated in the summer of 1985 to SW Florida and still reside in the same town we moved to.  Both daughters also reside in Florida. 

Next year we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary with close family in Cape Town as well.

AIESEC made it possible!  Thank you AIESEC for such student exchanges and opportunities! 

The Cape Town experience made me ready for international business ventures.  With confidence in meeting and interacting with other cultures, I formed an im- and export agency business in Germany with a partner from Kolkata.  Sunil had studied engineering in Germany and spoke German fluently.  In SW Florida I worked in real estate servicing German-speaking customers mostly for my 20 years in this business. 

A side note.  This year we reached a milestone, having traveled to over 100 countries.

65 YEARS OF AIESEC IN SOUTH AFRICA!

#iamaproudAIESECer and now a member of AIESEC Life. 

Pictures Submitted by Michael Schneider-Christians: Photos include Michael and his wife, Verena Olga Athineos

Currently, I am involved with establishing a strong AIESEC LC at FGCU (Florida Gulf Coast University) in SW Florida.  There are over 16,000 students at FGCU.  Greg Lampert and I met at a CEO Club function at FGCU in February 2020.  We got excited about our AIESEC stories and put our minds together to get AIESEC to FGCU.  Then COVID hit and all efforts went dormant.  We have found several interested students, but never found the drive needed to establish a strong LC.  So, we are still involved and have not given up on getting AIESEC at FGCU as a strong “club” with many benefits for the students who will commit and get involved.  An ongoing task.  Greg and I are also on the AIESEC BoA at FIU as well.