Record Attendance at the Steinmühle Fall Festival

Events & Celebrations, Former Students & Alumni, News

The school and boarding school celebrated their 70th anniversary and introduced numerous new initiatives

During the weekend of its annual fall festival, Steinmühle had a second reason to celebrate: the 70th anniversary of the institution. Over the years, the family that owns the boarding school and the school association have transformed a site with old, dilapidated buildings surrounded by mud around a mill into a campus with new and completely renovated buildings, where students from the boarding school, high school, and the bilingual elementary school feel equally at home.

Numerous construction projects

Never before had so many visitors come to the Fall Festival on Steinmühlenweg. Never before had there been so many new things to marvel at. Following the completion of the new Forum and Learning Center 5/6 buildings, the Atrium—a new building for the middle school—was inaugurated earlier this year. Once that was finished, renovation of the main building began and was completed just in time for the start of the school year. The renovation of the cafeteria took place at the same time. This was accompanied by the redesign of the schoolyard, the completion of the parking lot, and the relocation of the bus turnaround loop in front of the school. A second, smaller schoolyard is now located in front of the Atrium.

Congratulations from the County Administrator

“These are the final projects for this year,” says Dirk Konnertz, executive director of the school association, with satisfaction and full of praise for the contractors. The collaboration between the school association, principals Björn Gemmer and Bernd Holly, and the boarding school’s governing body worked brilliantly and made these results possible in the first place. On Friday evening, Steinmühle celebrated its 70th anniversary with a small gathering featuring speeches and a festive dinner prepared by the boarding school kitchen. Guests of honor from the business and political worlds, including District Administrator Kirsten Fründt, congratulated the key players and the entire school community not only on what was on display but also on the ongoing successes evident in all areas of the school.

A Look Back at the Decades

In his speech, Egon Vaupel, chairman of the school association, highlighted the school’s tremendous progress since the association’s founding and emphasized the currently excellent collaboration between the school and the boarding school. Johanna Buurman-Rogalla, a witness to history who has lived in Steinmühle since the very beginning—for 70 years now— gave a detailed and vivid presentation, accompanied by many photographs, describing how Steinmühle has flourished and grown over the years, even though it was not spared the consequences of a fire and a flood.

Preserving Our Connection to Nature

Despite the absence of these hardships, and despite new construction and renovations, the Steinmühle campus today still bears many similarities to that era. Thanks in particular to its unspoiled, natural surroundings, the trees, and its location as a “small village on the outskirts of town,” the school and boarding school have been able to preserve their character. “That’s exactly what makes Steinmühle so unique—you won’t find anything like it anywhere else,” gushed a visitor to the Fall Festival. Adults and children alike took full advantage of the opportunity to stroll across the grounds at the Fall Festival on that sunny, warm Saturday before the start of fall, explore the buildings from the inside, visit the diverse booths set up by the Steinmühle students, and marvel at the experiments in the chemistry lab. “We’re overwhelmed by this atmosphere and the positive response,” summed up school principals Björn Gemmer and Bernd Holly at the alumni’s evening get-together, which didn’t end until late at night.

22. October 2019

The “Bad Taste” Badminton Tournament Kicks Off a Year Full of Boarding School Activities

Life at Boarding School, News, Sports & Health

For the 2019–2020 school year, the Boarding School Council has set some goals for the boarding school community: Throughout the year, activities for the entire Steinmühlen community will take place on boarding school weekends.

The Bad-Taste badminton tournament, which took place for the second time at Steinmühle Boarding School this weekend, kicked off the recreational program. The teams were drawn by lot in advance to ensure the fairest possible competition and some wild (costume) combinations.

From 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the Steinmühlen students and teachers, dressed in wild costumes, fought fiercely for first through third place. In the eight groups, students battled it out in the preliminary rounds amid loud cheering in the gym to advance to the finals.

In the end, Martin Treml from the Bremerhaus, together with his teammate and house director Francine Olschewski, prevailed in the final match against young Elizabeth Förster from the Biohaus and Michel Hermens, the director of the Mühlenhaus. Students Yuhe Lin and Maxim Dyck took third place.

Since the tournament’s theme was “Bad Taste,” prizes were of course awarded accordingly: Johannes Tetzner won with his outfit consisting of sunglasses, a stuffed animal tied around his waist, a bicycle helmet worn upside down, and colorful socks (all of which he wore consistently even during the games), a Steinmühlen sweater—just like Felix Müller, who strolled around the hall dressed as an archery-shooting cowboy butcher.

However, to ensure that everyone had a chance to win a prize, additional participant prizes were drawn at the end: One team was delighted to learn that they wouldn’t have to attend any extracurricular activities for the coming week, while another team will have their entire menu request fulfilled for Wednesday’s dinner night. And the third team drawn in the raffle gets to take it easy at school: they won’t have to go to the study hall for a whole week.

And the boarding school council is already planning its next event: Takeshi’s Castle, the well-known Japanese game show in which contestants had to navigate funny—and sometimes insurmountable—obstacles. This real-life version of a platformer video game is now set to be brought back to life in the gym at Steinmühle Boarding School.

21. October 2019

Steinmühle Boarding School Takes on Multiple Roles at the Fall Festival: In Charge of Catering, Actively Involved in Class Performances

Events & Celebrations, Former Students & Alumni, News

The boarding school students baked a total of 60 cakes for the annual big fall festival, which drew more visitors than ever before to the Steinmühlen campus on the Saturday before the break. How good it was to have made such thorough preparations! It wasn’t just the baked goods that were a hit on this sunny Saturday; the barbecue stand, with more serving stations than usual, also treated the many guests to a sumptuous feast. The boarding school handled the demands with flying colors: two bratwursts here, fries there— it went on nonstop well into the evening. There was also a lively crowd at the beer tent and in the wine tent. Here, too, the boarding school staff, supported by individual volunteers, kept things running smoothly.

With good organization

For the Steinmühle Boarding School, the Fall Festival is a crowd-pleaser every year—and comes with many challenges. It’s not just a matter of setting up the event and organizing food service for the numerous visitors. At the same time, the boarding school students are also participating in school projects with their class groups. That means juggling multiple tasks—for both students and teachers!

Lots of new things to marvel at

The fact that so many people came to Steinmühlenweg was clearly due to the fact that there was so much to see: the new building, the renovated main building, the redesigned schoolyard, and the cafeteria—which was almost unrecognizable. Parents, relatives, friends, and guests of Steinmühle gathered to get a firsthand look at what they had already heard about from their children. Stations featuring activities from all school grades were spread throughout the entire grounds and in individual rooms. Visitors completed a veritable obstacle course as they toured all the presentations and gladly accepted the invitation to take a guided tour of the new buildings.

Reminiscing

The Steinmühle Fall Festival is also a celebration for alumni, some of whom travel from far away to see “their” class again. “Do you remember…?” was a phrase heard in many corners. People shared memories and raised a glass or two. The younger students and current residents of the boarding houses also had plenty of fun. The dancing in the festival tent lasted well into the night.

Everything Under Control

Nevertheless, the next day, the boarding school students returned to the campus promptly at 10 a.m. to clean up, return the dishes, and take down the decorations, with the support of the teaching staff. And sure enough, the campus looked clean again in no time, as if the many visitors had never been there at all. The course of this traditional festival once again made it clear that work and celebration definitely go hand in hand. The feedback made it clear: Everyone had a great time at the Fall Festival!

21. October 2019

Help That Makes a Difference: Fall Festival Fundraisers for the “Help for MiRO” Organization

Collaborations & Partnerships, Events & Celebrations, Former Students & Alumni, News, Social Engagement

Since 2010, Nadine Weigel, an editor at the Oberhessische Presse, has been supporting a children’s home in a suburb of Mombasa, Kenya. While conducting research for a feature story on various social projects, she came across the completely dilapidated orphanage during her trip to Africa. The journalist was confronted with dramatic scenes. Without hesitation, she decided to help right there on the spot.

What began as a spontaneous act of support that immediately saved a child’s life turned into long-term assistance. Together with several fellow activists, Nadine Weigel founded the nonprofit organization “Help for MiRO e.V.” in 2014, which she now leads as president.

Two groups of students from Steinmühle School found Nadine Weigel’s project so worthy of support that they decided to donate the proceeds from their fall festival activities to “Help for MiRO.”

Class 13d sold old geography maps that were laid out on the sports field. The maps are no longer needed, as map data is available online and displayed on screens.
The Interact Club, a Rotary-sponsored service club for children and young people, sold fruit cocktails to guests at the fall festival.

Total proceeds amounted to 625 euros, which Nadine Weigel gratefully accepted. The photo shows representatives from both groups, who were supervised by Principal Björn Gemmer. The “Interactors” can be recognized by their white polo shirts.

If you’re interested in learning more about the association’s work and its project, it’s worth taking a closer look at the website www.help-for-miro.de.

17. October 2019

Funds from the “Steinmühle Foundation” set aside for the same purposes

Former Students & Alumni, News, Social Engagement

Decades ago, the “Stiftung Steinmühle e.V.” was founded with the purpose of supporting boarding school students who had difficulty paying their school fees and, above all, their boarding fees. In recent years, the activities of the “Stiftung Steinmühle e.V.” had ceased to be visible. Following the death of Chairman Thilo von Thümen, who was a student at Steinmühle from 1956 to 1965, the decision was made to dissolve the association. It was particularly the former Steinmühle students and members Axel Becker (pictured left) and Udo Graul (right) who spearheaded the dissolution of the association and ensured that the association’s remaining funds could now be transferred to the Steinmühle Marburg School Association (Schulverein Steinmühle Marburg e.V.). As part of the celebration marking Steinmühle’s 70th anniversary on September 20, the two members presented Principal Björn Gemmer (center) with a check for the remaining balance of 7,418 euros. In line with the goal of “Stiftung Steinmühle e.V.,” the funds will be used for scholarships and tuition reductions.

17. October 2019

Help for Sibiu/Hermannstadt: Steinmühle Donates Backpacks and 18 Chalkboards

Collaborations & Partnerships, News, Social Engagement

This year, students at Steinmühlen donated a total of 37 school backpacks to children in Marburg’s sister city, Sibiu. Principal Bernd Holly recently announced this result, which actually surpassed last year’s total. As in previous years, he had asked families to donate school backpacks that were no longer needed at the start of the school year to support this good cause. After all, in almost all cases, the backpacks are still in very good condition.

Through this gesture, Steinmühle regularly participates in the initiative of the Children’s and Youth Parliament (KiJuPa), which has been supporting students in need in Sibiu with donations since 2010. Toward the end of the year, the backpacks are transported to Sibiu in collaboration with the organization “Hilfe für Sibiu/Hermannstadt,” and it is not uncommon for them to appear on the Christmas gift table for children who cannot afford backpacks.

Since the Steinmühle no longer uses chalkboards, 18 complete school blackboards were donated to Sibiu as early as this spring with the help of the THW, reports Bernd Holly. So far, more than 200 school backpacks from the Steinmühle have arrived in Sibiu.

17. October 2019

Where and How Do You Communicate? A Workshop with a Certificate on the Use of the English Language

Contests & Awards, Languages & International Affairs, News

Twenty-five 13th-grade students at Steinmühle completed a special English workshop with a certificate from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL, United States. Under the title “English Communication in Academia and Beyond,” they spent three days exploring aspects of English communication in academic settings and future (professional) life under the experienced guidance of Dr. Steffen Guenzel. The university professor from Florida helped the participants—all of whom already have a good command of English—develop an understanding of academic writing and the difference between simple and professional communication through scholarly analysis, strategies, and exercises. He demonstrated what “good writing” in English looks like and explained how everyday communication, academic communication, and professional writing differ from one another and what sets them apart.

The workshop was a collaborative project between Martin Luther School (MLS) and Steinmühle. The presenter had previously held a workshop with the same content at MLS. Participation was limited to 25 students, and the costs were shared by MLS and Steinmühle. At both schools, the students each pay an equal share of the cost. Our photo shows the Steinmühle workshop participants together with Principal Björn Gemmer and Professor Guenzel, who provided helpful guidance to the interested students.

17. October 2019

Even Better Than Expected: Proud of Our Cambridge Certificates

Contests & Awards, Languages & International Affairs, News

As 11th graders, they had earned this achievement; now that their certificates had arrived, they posed for the photographer as 12th graders: Once again this year, a large group of students at Steinmühle earned the globally recognized Cambridge Certificate, which attests to a high level of knowledge and proficiency in the English language.

What’s remarkable is that as many as seven of the participants actually exceeded the goal. The aim was to be certified at the B2 language level. However, these seven students were actually certified at the C1 level—the proficiency level of educated native speakers! “That’s extraordinary for eleventh graders,” says Principal Björn Gemmer, pictured here with subject teacher Nicole Hohm (left). Unfortunately, Moses Walther was unable to attend the photo session. Gemmer: “He had the best result—very close to ‘perfect.’”

17. October 2019

Mobile Chemikum Returns to the Steinmühle Fall Festival

Collaborations & Partnerships, Events & Celebrations, Former Students & Alumni, News, STEM

As it does every year, WU-Forschen is represented at the Fall Festival with a hands-on booth. This year, our students received support from the mobile Chemikum Marburg—just as they did in 2015. The Steinmühle Friends Association made this collaboration possible.
In addition to hands-on experiments with secret codes, alginates, dry ice, and much more, the Chemikum also demonstrated the popular “ball explosion” (photo).
There was a lot of interest at the booth. Younger children, especially those from the bilingual elementary school, were able to learn a lot and have fun here.

11. October 2019