About 2,500 visitors are celebrating the latest developments in stone mills

It may have been all the news surrounding Steinmühle that made this year’s Fall Festival such a special crowd-pleaser: The new middle school building nearing completion, the building permit for the renovation of the main building, approval for the bilingual elementary school program, a new parking lot, the new website, and the launch of the school’s own app. Steinmühle has currently undertaken everything possible to make the school ready for the future and celebrated this achievement together with around 2,500 visitors at the traditional Fall Festival. Although the fall festival lived up to its name with downpours later in the evening, the visitors didn’t let that dampen their festive spirits. On the contrary. Just when the festival seemed to be coming to an end due to the weather, even more visitors arrived—and stayed well into the night.

Politicians from various parties, who recognized the overall commitment of Steinmühle and the parents behind it in its success, arrived right at 3:00 p.m., when the event kicked off. Following a performance by the brass band class and opening remarks by boarding school director Nils Schwandt and school principals Björn Gemmer and Bernd Holly, the leadership team led by school executive director Dirk Konnertz welcomed, among others, Hesse’s Minister of Finance Dr. Thomas Schäfer, District Administrator Kirsten Fründt, and Dirk Bamberger from Cappel, a direct candidate in the state legislative election. The politicians had not only provided financial support for Steinmühle’s plans—whether through funds from a municipal investment program, interest waivers, or a default guarantee—but had also officially championed and welcomed these forward-looking initiatives. The unanimous consensus was that precisely these kinds of structures are needed to prepare young people for the growing demands of the future and to equip them for the challenges of digitalization and globalization.

 

New Website Launched

Passing by the wing of the main building—which bears the sign “Landschulheim Steinmühle” and whose days are numbered, as it is set to be demolished as part of the renovation—interested festival attendees then made their way to the school’s forum. There, school director Dirk Konnertz presented the school and boarding school’s new joint website and explained the site’s improved navigation, optimized user experience, and more user-friendly structure.

 

Check your schedule with the StoneApp

Students Aaron Stein and Julian Seeger then presented the “StoneApp” they had created. The idea for a Steinmühlen app originated during the 2017–18 school year in upper-level computer science class and has now been brought to life by the two students with the support of Dirk Konnertz, Marc Bepperling, Eberhard Wieth, and the school administration. Soon, students will be able to check the latest school news, the meal schedule, the substitute teacher schedule, and more on their own mobile devices—another milestone in Steinmühle’s history that visitors were able to witness. The next Fall Festival in 2019 will then “pop up” as a highlight on the display of every Steinmühlen student’s cell phone.