This gives the saying “Things are moving along at Steinmühle” a second, very timely meaning: This year’s Steinmühle Fall Festival reached its climax on Saturday with a charity run held near the construction site for the new school building. Students from Steinmühle, supported by their parents, “ran” to raise over 5,000 euros. The Steinmühle Rural School Camp Association is currently raising money for the interior furnishings of the new building through a fundraising campaign that has just begun; to this end, it has also launched the website www.steinmuehlen-unterstuetzer.de and compiled all the information in a small brochure.

 

High-quality raffle prizes

A few school classes also dedicated their booth activities to the new building project and successfully worked to raise small donations for the large construction fund. At the numerous other booths on the school grounds, a variety of topics were featured in the tried-and-true manner, presented through posters and by directly engaging the very large crowd. Winners of a raffle held by the Friends of the School Association were delighted to receive high-quality prizes. The sun shone down in its usual manner—good weather is a traditional part of the Steinmühlen Fall Festival, which is organized jointly by the school and the boarding school.

A Visit from a Prominent Political Figure

Local political figures also paid tribute to Steinmühle for its active efforts and its plan to finance the new building without public subsidies. In their speeches, Marburg’s mayor, Dr. Thomas Spies, and Hesse’s Minister of Finance, Dr. Thomas Schäfer, praised the school association’s courage and efforts toward the project, as well as its broader plans to establish an international program. Since the school association is financing the new building entirely without public subsidies, the Minister of Finance’s welcome check was particularly well received. Among the visitors at the school’s location on Steinmühlenweg in Cappeler, principals Björn Gemmer and Bernd Holly, along with School Association Executive Director Dirk Konnertz, also welcomed other political representatives, namely District Administrator Kirsten Fründt and Member of the Bundestag Dr. Stefan Heck. Many Steinmühle alumni gathered on the school grounds and enjoyed an evening get-together in a cheerful atmosphere. All guests were able to look back on the 2016–17 school year through the Steinmühle yearbook, which was hot off the press and also available online. Parents of future fifth-graders picked up the latest flyers for the lower grades.

Success for the Steinmühlen soccer team in Competition Class II: For the fourth time in a row, the team secured a spot in the district tournament by winning two games at the city championships. The Steinmühlen soccer players first faced the team from the Emil-von-Behring School. They won that match 1–0. Their next opponent was the Elisabeth School. The Steinmühlen soccer players also secured a victory in that game, which ended 2–1.

While the Steinmühlen soccer players were clearly superior to their opponents last year, that dominance wasn’t quite as evident this year. “This was due to the higher quality of the other teams this season,” coach Michael Neirich explained. In their first game against the Emil-von-Behring School, the Steinmühlen team was slow to find their rhythm and created relatively few scoring chances. The victory—which was nonetheless well-deserved—was ultimately secured by a penalty kick.

After switching their formation, our soccer players dominated the second game against Elisabethschule and managed to hold off Elisabethschule’s equalizer until just before the end. With the other two schools tying 2–2, the Steinmühlen team ultimately became the undisputed city champions with a 5-point lead.

In Competition Class III (born in 2004 and 2005), the Steinmühle team was defeated by the Philippinum High School team. The city team was packed with top players from VfB Marburg and SF Blau-Gelb Marburg. In their head-to-head matchup, the Steinmühle players, coached by Dirk Konnertz, lost quite decisively, 0–3, due to a few lapses in concentration; however, they won the other two games convincingly: 2–0 against the Elisabethschule and 7–1 against the Emil-von-Behring-Schule. In the end, they finished in second place out of four teams—a great success!

For the 11th time, the Rotary Club organized the Rotary Summer Course at the State Music Academy in Sondershausen, Thuringia. The summer course’s theme is “Music bridges the world,” and it offers selected musicians between the ages of 11 and 19 the opportunity to receive a week of first-class training on their instruments. Musical instruction is provided by faculty members from the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar. Participants are nominated by Rotary Clubs, and—upon successful application—their participation is (co-)funded by the Rotary Clubs. The Rotary Club of Marburg nominated 16-year-old Bodam Lee, a student at Steinmühle School, for the program. Even the application process is demanding. Applicants must not only list any music awards they have won to date but also submit a DVD showing them performing.

78 applicants were selected, including Bodam Lee, who spent the second week of September at the music academy, where she received instruction at the highest level.

At the end of the course, five prizes were awarded; one of these went to the participant from Marburg, who, at the final concert and the presentation of the Franz Liszt Prize winners—the annual highlight of the Rotary Summer Course —with a flawless performance of the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Violin Concerto in E minor.

Bodam Lee took her first violin lessons at the age of 4. She came to Germany in 2011 and has been attending Steinmühle ever since. She practices her instrument for two to three hours every day. She also plays the piano, guitar, and ukulele.
What matters most to her is enjoying life, spending time with family and friends, and finding joy—even in the little things that help her progress in her musical career. And when that path leads to success—such as winning the Franz Liszt Prize—she enjoys the journey all the more.