Alpacas, homemade honey, food art: Guests enjoyed the Steinmühle Fall Festival

As the last Saturday in September approaches, excitement builds every year at Steinmühle. On this day, the school and boarding school traditionally celebrate their fall festival with many guests: It’s a gathering of parents, families, friends, alumni, and everyone who feels a connection to Steinmühle. At the same time, it’s an opportunity for anyone interested to get a taste of the Steinmühle atmosphere.

“Many people on our campus have been working toward this day,” explained Frank Wemme, middle school principal and festival organizer, after Principal Björn Gemmer’s opening remarks on the music stage. The benches in the schoolyard were packed with spectators, and the sun was shining down on the guests, who clearly preferred to pull out their sunglasses rather than their umbrellas.

Here’s to us!

The musical introduction featured more highlights from the festival week celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Steinmühle. This memorable anniversary had been celebrated in June with a variety of events. The then 5th-grade choir—now in 6th grade—performed songs such as “Yellow Submarine,” “99 Luftballons,” and—fitting for the occasion—“Ein Hoch auf uns,” conducted by Anna Prokop and Ulrike Wilmsmeyer.

Lovable Four-Legged Friends

As we walked through the grounds, there were new things to discover. Alpacas had never been seen at the Steinmühle before—for the fall festival, six animals, normally based in Weimar/Lahn, gathered near the equestrian center. District Administrator Jens Womelsdorf was also charmed by the cute appearance of these four-legged friends with their button eyes, which their owners often bring along to events. On the other side of the building, Steinmühle ponies, smartly adorned with the Steinmühle logo, posed, ready for a ride with interested young visitors.

Information About the Day Group

The two child care providers for the new “Mühlen-Minis” group took advantage of the Steinmühlen event to show interested visitors around the rooms in the fully renovated log cabin and explain their work.

It’s all part of the fun

And then the time had come. This time, the two reporters from the Steinmühle couldn’t avoid visiting the haunted house, which was once again very crowded—as evidenced by the long line in front of the building. Both crept through the darkened corridors with a sense of awe, guided only by bright lines on the floor. Here and there, water dripped from above; rustling sounds and faint touches in the pitch darkness made the whole experience truly spooky…and then… there it was—the skeleton, illuminated in shifting colors… and captured in a photo in the blink of an eye. Great job, students of Class 7a!

An Insight into Food Art

The presentation by the 13a advanced art class, led by teacher Heike Rabben Martin (“Rado”), was a work of art that was a feast for both the eyes and the palate. Their display was simply titled “Food Art”—an extensive collection of sweets that had been handmade and packaged by the students themselves the night before.

The elective course (WU) “Vegetarian Cooking & School Garden,” led by teacher María Ramos, offered gourmet products.

The tattooing skills of other students, meanwhile, were put to the test on several occasions—including by one or two teachers, incidentally. The donations collected for this went to charity.

The WU Computer Science Department showcased the impressive results of the group’s work. LEGO robots were presented.

Questions About the School and the Parent-Teacher Association

As always, there was a long line in front of the AROMA ice cream truck, which had been organized by Jasmine Weidenbach, the chair of the Friends Association. There was also a great deal of interest in the Friends Association’s own booth. Visitors spoke with board members to learn about the association’s activities and how to become a member, and they were able to ask questions. The same was true at the school administration team’s information table, where school administrator Dirk Lange and his colleagues spoke with Autumn Festival guests to answer questions about what Steinmühle has to offer.

Stone Mill Honey

Something special was on offer at the entrance to the Steinmühle grounds: Stone Honey! The young Steinmühlen beekeepers, Mara Schleich from class 5i and Julian Busch from class 5b, presented and explained the fantastic results of their work so far with two bee colonies and offered the jars of honey—featuring labels designed by art teacher “Rado” in exchange for a donation. They revealed that two more bee colonies are set to join the hive soon.

Games from Ancient Greece

The experiment conducted with liquid nitrogen at the Chemikum—with which Steinmühle collaborates—always makes a big visual and auditory impression. This collaboration is reliably supported by Steinmühle teacher and STEM coordinator Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf.

The “Games of Ancient Greece” event in front of the Forum required quite a bit of skill. Inside the Forum itself, karaoke was on the program. Lady Gaga and the gang would surely have been amazed!

A film provided information about the phenomenon of the Miyawaki forest. Former Steinmühle principal Bernd Holly had planted one such forest on the grounds in front of the new gym. There, anyone interested could see for themselves how this natural phenomenon grows and thrives.

The first set of our photos gives a glimpse of the Fall Festival activities during the day. We’ll report on the evening atmosphere and the alumni reunions soon.