Report Card Ceremony at Steinmühle Boarding School / Social Service Award for Leon Sauer

A total of 12 students from Steinmühle Boarding School took their Abitur exams this year. This marked the successful conclusion of an exciting and, at times, nerve-wracking period for the entire boarding school class.

After the group photo session, the graduation ceremony continued with the presentation of diplomas in the Steinmühle Forum. Since the diploma ceremony is traditionally also used to honor the recipient of the Social Award for the entire Steinmühle graduating class, the focus of the morning was once again on the boarding school. Leon Sauer, who had spent six years at the Steinmühle boarding school, was awarded this prestigious prize. The reason for this was his strong social commitment and dedication to his fellow students. “Leon hauling schoolbooks for the whole class, … Leon moving furniture, boxes, and junk, Leon setting up for the fall festival, Leon setting up tents, Leon loading trailers, Leon as a dorm representative, as a member of the boarding school council…”—this is an excerpt from the high school graduate’s personal story, which boarding school director Nils Schwandt outlined later that day and which described the award winner’s personal dedication.

Following the ceremony, a festive champagne reception and dinner were held to bid farewell to the boarding school students. The three-course meal was enjoyed by the graduating seniors, their families, and the faculty, together with boarding school directors Anke Muszynski and Nils Schwandt.

Next, there was a personalized speech for each student. The teachers outlined each graduating student’s history and journey at the boarding school. A very emotional atmosphere developed during the speeches, and there were many tears on both sides. This made it clear to everyone in the hall just how close the bonds between those involved had become over the years. Some of the students had spent up to six years at the boarding school and had experienced an exciting and thrilling time there.

First Time Capsule Installed

For the first time this year, the graduating seniors at Steinmühle Boarding School installed a time capsule and buried it on the Lahn grounds. “The students plan to open it in 15 years at the fall festival,” reports boarding school director Anke Muszynski. The graduating seniors filled the time capsule with letters to one another and items that remind them of their time at the boarding school.

As a gift, the graduating seniors at Steinmühle Boarding School received a leather travel journal and a set of engraved cutlery. The cutlery is given every year, while the other gift changes. The fact that the changing gift turned out to be a travel journal was due to the boarding school’s internal graduation motto: “Houston, we have our high school diplomas!” The phrase, inspired by the legendary line from the Apollo 13 mission, was meant to symbolize that these young people are now embarking on their journey through life. The theme of travel and new beginnings ran through all the speeches.

The new high school graduates spent the evening at their prom, celebrating the start of this new chapter in their lives in style.

That’s what theater performances at Steinmühle are known for: well-rehearsed plays featuring students from various grade levels, all highly entertaining! The Theater Club from grades 5 and 6, as well as DS Courses 1 and 2 from the E-phase, presented their performances—spiced up with a film contribution from the 7th-grade Latin students.

It’s not uncommon for high school students to have to muster a great deal of concentration to stage the ring parable “Nathan the Wise.” This time, to the audience’s amazement, the lower-grade theater club took on this challenging play and earned a hearty round of applause from the audience. In his words of praise for all the actors and organizers following the event, Principal Björn Gemmer attributed the success not only to the young, motivated, and dedicated students but also to the expert guidance of the club leader for grades 5 and 6, Flûte Seifart.

7th Grade: We Speak Latin!

With a video created during a Latin class led by Annette Kollatz, the seventh graders demonstrated that it is possible to communicate in Latin. Many parents in the audience were surely transported back to a Latin class or two from their own school days; at least to those familiar with classical Latin, the vocabulary—supplemented by German subtitles—seemed somehow familiar…

Under the direction of Christian Finance, DS Course 1 of the E-Phase presented “Raumwirkung.” Just like the mini-plays from DS Course 2, directed by Steffen Ullwer, the audience was captivated: The actors and actresses demonstrated strong acting skills and made it clear that they were on stage out of a love for theater and possess remarkable talent.

In between the two presentations by the 11th-grade class, the 5th-grade “advanced students” performed a play they had written themselves. In it, the audience witnessed the “induction of teachers”: they saw the “first day of school” for Mr. von der Ahe, Ms. Vielhaben, and other colleagues—great fun for everyone! This performance was directed by Lisa Braun.

This year’s opening reception, “Art and Nature in the Greenhouse,” focused on architecture. With Nina Kvachko, the 6th-grade classes designed their dream rooms—some of which even included an indoor soccer field. Class 8c, working with Dr. Sabine Kraft, focused on the design of residential buildings and learned the difference between solid-wall and post-and-beam construction. Class 5c and the E-Phase students, under the guidance of Heike Rabben-Martin, explored the Bauhaus style, with the older students focusing particularly on its functional and unadorned design. Class 10c, with Dr. Sabine Kraft, focused on advertising columns. As part of their art class, the group had explored poster design, signal colors, and advertising strategies.

The other two 10th-grade classes focused on the theme of artistic representation and combined remarkable biological insights with typographic elements. After the students had developed an experimental approach to acrylic painting, they depicted insects and arachnids with great sensitivity.

Class 8a had explored resource use with Ines Vielhaben and breathed new life into some old clothes through upcycling and sewing. They created cloth bags and other items.At the entrance to the greenhouse, all guests were greeted by five busts and relief faces. These heads, modeled as part of the art curriculum, are intended to reflect different emotions through their facial expressions. Project leader Ines Vielhaben guided the tour through the greenhouse. Snacks from the WU Party Service, provided by Fido Wagler with the help of Maria Ramos, made the opening reception a resounding success, just as it does every year.

Physical education teacher Gisela Opper helped organize the rowing event for 7th graders and documented the day with a report and photos:

In conjunction with the school sports day, the 7th-grade “rowing event” took place at the boathouse under the guidance of rowing coach Martin “Stromi” Strohmenger. This is a sport-specific triathlon in which it is not the performance of the individual but the performance of the entire class that counts. Each student first had to row 250 meters on an ergometer. For this, there was one ergometer on the terrace for each class, with classmates cheering loudly all around the terrace.

In the “Monte Carlo Rowing” event, five students at a time had to run to the boat, get in, cast off, row through the left arch of the railroad bridge, turn around, and row back to the dock. The next class was already waiting in the starting blocks there. There were five rounds per class, so that everyone got to row at least once.

The event concluded with a class relay race around the Boathouse loop, a course already familiar to everyone from the spring run for grades 5 and 6. This time, however, each class had to run four laps, which amounted to a distance of about 260 meters per student.

In the end, Class 7c—which had posted some very good times at the Monte Carlo rowing competition—came in first, followed by Class 7a, which had won the relay, and Class 7b.