September 2023

5th Grade Orientation: Steinmühle Welcomes New 5th Graders

The Start of the School Year at Steinmühle High School: On Tuesday morning, September 5, 86 new students celebrated the start of their school year at Steinmühle High School.

The forum on the Steinmühle grounds quickly filled up. The young students brought their families along, filling every seat and standing space in the hall. The new students were welcomed by the 6th-grade students and the musical theater band, led by Frank Wemme, who also serves as the head of the lower secondary school at Steinmühle. A colorful program of songs featuring excerpts from last school year’s musical “Alles wird gut, sowieso” immediately invited the newcomers to sing along. Whether it was international hits like “Mamma Mia” (ABBA) or German-language classics like “Millionen Lichter” (Christina Stürmer)—the sixth-grade classes got everyone excited as they kicked off the new school year. After a round of enthusiastic applause for the stage performance, Principal Björn Gemmer welcomed the students and parents in a brief address.

After that, we moved right on to dividing the students into classes 5a, 5b, 5c, and 5i. The latter class is the continuation class of the Bilingual Elementary School and marks the beginning of the international high school track. As the Bilingual Elementary School has “grown,” there is already an international high school class, 6i.

Class teachers Lisa Braun, Nina Kvashko, Jennifer Bernhart, and Nina Merzenich began by assigning students to their classes. In pairs, the new students were called up to the stage to join their respective teachers.

While the students then made their way to their classrooms, the parents had the opportunity to chat with other families during a small get-together. Meanwhile, the Steinmühle staff and many family members took photos of the orientation, ensuring that the first day of school at Steinmühle High School will remain unforgettable.

Another lasting memory for new Steinmühlen students is always the welcome gift from the Friends of Steinmühlen Association, presented by its chairwoman, Jasmine Weidenbach, in the form of a Steinmühlen T-shirt.

27. September 2023

First-Grade Orientation: Welcome, dear first graders!

Bilingual Elementary School, Events & Celebrations, News

First day of school under bright sunshine: On Tuesday, September 5, 16 new elementary school students gathered at Steinmühle to celebrate their start at the Bilingual Elementary School.

Of course, the girls and boys had plenty of support with them. Whether parents, older or younger siblings, or grandparents—the Steinmühle Forum filled up quickly. The new students were first welcomed by Janine Küster (principal of the Bilingual Elementary School) and her deputy, Lori Herrmann: “Today, you are entrusting us with the most precious thing you have. We truly appreciate this trust,” said Küster and Herrmann, who delivered the welcome remarks in both German and English.

But before the students were assigned to their classes, they were treated to a colorful program put on by the existing Flex classes. Songs were performed in German and English, in true Bilingual Elementary School style. Whether it was Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” or “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from the musical *Mary Poppins*, the elementary school students thrilled their new classmates with energetic musical performances. Then it was time for the long-awaited part of the program: With the students assigned to the existing Flex classes led by Maria Bick and Dr. Sebastian Verbeek (Flex a) as well as Katrin Weißenborn and Maria Gloerfeld (Flex b), the 16 students officially began their school year. After being called by name, each student was allowed to go up on stage and join their respective teacher duo. Accompanied by processional music, they then headed straight to their classrooms for their first lesson.

Meanwhile, Janine Küster and Lori Herrmann gave the parents a brief glimpse into daily life at the Bilingual Elementary School through a slide show, offering them a preview of what their own children can expect in the coming weeks and months.

Of course, the entire event was captured in photos, so that not only the school backpack and the school goodie bag will be remembered, but also the first day of school at Steinmühle, with all its little details.

27. September 2023

Steinmühlen students are having a great time at the SFM summer camp

Collaborations & Partnerships, News, STEM, Talent Development

During the final week of the summer break in Hesse, from August 28 to September 1, 2023, the SFM organized a STEM summer camp for students from Central Hesse. The program featured exciting experiments, interesting STEM sites, and, of course, lots of fun. A total of 40 students from grades 7 through 12 signed up for the camp. Three 7th-grade students from Steinmühle were also there. Maya Fischer, Anna-Lena Griesler, and Justus Pöschl had a great time.
The workshops were led by the SFM team, including Steinmühlen teachers Malte Klimczak and Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf, who are on secondment to the SFM.

All students were able to sign up for the various activities on their own and thus put together their own personalized schedule. Specifically, the following 11 workshops were offered:

Robotikum – Guide and create dialogs with the Nano voice bot
The Lahn—Together, we’re investigating how clean the Lahn is
Mathematikum – We Get to the Bottom of Mathematical Models + Viseum – Explore Optics from Every Angle
Chemikum – The Vast World of Hydrogen and Climate
MS Wissenschaft – On a floating science center, you can dive into the depths of our universe
Genetics – Genetic Fingerprinting
FIRST LEGO League – Work as a team to solve tricky challenges using LEGO robots
WOW Experiments — It’s easy to spot a phenomenon, but how do I figure out what’s behind it?
Microcontrollers + Soldering – We’re Building an Environmental Monitoring Station
3D Printers – Discover the Technology and Possibilities of 3D Printers
Planetarium – Let’s Discover Our Night Sky Together

The camp came to a close with a group barbecue at the Elisabethschule boathouse on Friday, which was also attended by many parents.

A detailed report on the individual workshops is available on the SFM website (https://sfz-mittelhessen.de/).

During the final week of the summer break in Hesse, from August 28 to September 1, 2023, the SFM organized a STEM summer camp for students from Central Hesse. The program featured exciting experiments, interesting STEM sites, and, of course, lots of fun. A total of 40 students from grades 7 through 12 signed up for the camp. Three 7th-grade students from Steinmühle were also there. Maya Fischer, Anna-Lena Griesler, and Justus Pöschl had a great time.
The workshops were led by the SFM team, including Steinmühlen teachers Malte Klimczak and Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf, who are on secondment to the SFM.

All students were able to sign up for the various activities on their own and thus put together their own personalized schedule. Specifically, the following 11 workshops were offered:

Robotikum – Guide and create dialogs with the Nano voice bot
The Lahn—Together, we’re investigating how clean the Lahn is
Mathematikum – We Get to the Bottom of Mathematical Models + Viseum – Explore Optics from Every Angle
Chemikum – The Vast World of Hydrogen and Climate
MS Wissenschaft – On a floating science center, you can dive into the depths of our universe
Genetics – Genetic Fingerprinting
FIRST LEGO League – Work as a team to solve tricky challenges using LEGO robots
WOW Experiments — It’s easy to spot a phenomenon, but how do I figure out what’s behind it?
Microcontrollers + Soldering – We’re Building an Environmental Monitoring Station
3D Printers – Discover the Technology and Possibilities of 3D Printers
Planetarium – Let’s Discover Our Night Sky Together