Kevin Visscher '09

More about Kevin

  • Major(s): Accounting
My wife Rachel and I graduated with German majors about five years ago. Studying German at Calvin had a significant impact on our lives, allowing us to have incredibly valuable experiences that have helped us develop personally and professionally.”

While we were at Calvin, my wife and I both went on the Calvin-endorsed Central College study abroad program in Vienna. Rachel also studied Art and Environmental Studies at Calvin, and I also studied Accounting. 

Earlier this year, we each had the opportunity to work in Frankfurt am Main in our respective fields. At the time, I worked in international tax consulting at KPMG in Detroit, and I was offered a short-term rotation in the Frankfurt office. The rotation involved working with a team to coordinate U.S. and German tax planning for multinational corporations. Rachel worked as a landscape design intern at Albert Speer + Partner, among the largest architecture and planning firms in Germany. She worked with landscape architects, planners, and architects on designs in Germany and Saudi Arabia. 

Understanding the language and culture allowed us to actively participate on projects and to understand their context more thoroughly. Our coworkers had varying levels of English fluency, so our ability to speak German allowed us to shape our own professional experiences and be fully engaged.

Our past studies of German culture have been very influential in our development. Germans have created and experienced some of the world’s great successes and horrifying tragedies. Studying cultural questions in that context regarding subjects like social value, identity, and belonging continues to shape our views and beliefs.

Rachel currently works as a landscape designer at H.T. Harvey & Associates, and Kevin is a manager in international tax planning at Trimble Navigation in the Bay Area.

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