They engaged in lively conversation, enjoyed the refreshments on offer, and danced to the music of the live band “Warehouse”: 200 cheerful Steinmühle parents celebrated at the Forum on Saturday evening until the early hours of the morning. For the first time in Steinmühle’s history, the school association had hosted a party exclusively for parents. The response and the fantastic atmosphere showed that this idea was a huge success. While guests alternated between sipping long drinks at the round bar tables and dancing on the dance floor, the school administration team and management made sure everything ran smoothly: Principal Björn Gemmer busily sliced limes for caipirinhas, Managing Director Dirk Konnertz managed the bar, and Principal Bernd Holly collected empty bottles. Other hardworking helpers ensured a seamless flow of refreshments. All the guests chatted animatedly and clearly enjoyed the fact that, with songs like “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode, and “Salisbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel playing, the dance floor was just a few steps away.

At 2:15 a.m., the last visitors left the Forum. Managing Director Dirk Konnertz heard someone call out, “See you next Saturday!” It probably won’t happen that soon, but after such a successful evening, nothing stands in the way of doing it again: great people, a fantastic band, and another contribution to the fund for the new building’s interior design.

Project-based learning at Steinmühle encourages students to “think outside the box.” It is designed to provide insight into areas of life that are otherwise rarely covered in general school instruction. Class 10a, along with their teacher Ines Vielhaben, demonstrated how project-based learning can be conducted. The topic here was “engagement”—a topic that had not yet been covered in project-based learning.

The goal for the students was to get involved in an open-ended project of their own choosing, based on their personal interests and passions. The focus was to be on social or environmental issues. Each presentation was accompanied by a self-created photo slideshow using PowerPoint. Feedback was provided by a pre-selected group from the class.

We attended the presentations given by the students who had chosen an extracurricular learning setting as part of their community service.

Gratitude in a Nursing Home

Ida Steinpaß and Anastasia Bieker were at the Wetter nursing home for their project. As they interacted with the residents, they learned how to establish contact and identified potential challenges, but they quickly gained the elderly residents’ trust and had many conversations with them. Ida and Anastasia were met with a great deal of gratitude, overcame a few obstacles while taking photos (“the hardest part”), and gained insight into the challenging daily lives of the nursing staff.

Shortage of Male Dogs at the Animal Shelter

Anna Schwarz-Teres had taken a look around the Cappel animal shelter. She reported on the many different animals housed there, their living conditions, and the staffing structure of the dedicated team, which would hardly be able to handle its wide range of tasks without volunteers. Anna didn’t hesitate to help clean the enclosures and learned that some animals are even turned in by the police or simply left on the shelter’s doorstep by strangers.

Joy from Handkäs

Jacob Schümann, Simon Specht, and Johannes Dersch had launched their own project. Under the name “Einkaufshilfe Marburg,” the team had even created flyers and distributed them in the Cappel area. When the response was slow to come, they decided on the spot to visit the senior living facility in Moischt and ask the residents directly about their small wishes. The requests came spontaneously—people asked for “Katjes, chocolate, and Handkäs.” The three reflected: “We were the young faces for the elderly. It was fun. Helping others makes you happy.”

Thanks to an initiative by Frank Wemme, music teacher Daniel Sans and his 12th-grade music class were put in touch with Walter G. Hauschild, who works as a lecturer in sound engineering at the Abbey Road Institute in Frankfurt. An exclusive tour of the institute gave the students a glimpse into one of the most modern recording studios. They received a first-hand explanation of all the steps involved in a professional recording. “It was very impressive, and we look forward to further collaboration with Abbey Road Studios,” reported Daniel Sans and his class. A seminar led by the experts from Frankfurt, held on-site at the Steinmühle, on independently mixing and monitoring recordings will further strengthen this partnership.