Aggressive on the field, down-to-earth off it: From Steinmühle to TSG Hoffenheim

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Marlene Wagner had already fallen in love with soccer when she was just three years old: Whenever her older brother Moritz went to soccer practice, she wanted to go too! Back then, no one could have guessed just how far that passion—and the soccer games she played in the backyard with her brothers Moritz, Konrad, and Wilhelm—would take her. Today, they’re an unbeatable team—four Steinmühlen students, all on their own.

 

A Girl on the Boys’ Team

Back then, she was fully integrated into the soccer team—as a girl! That was also thanks to her coaches, including Marco Preis and Arthur Keck. Marlene had a lot of fun with her teammates, almost all of whom she knew from kindergarten. Today, the talented Steinmühlen student plays for the TSG Hoffenheim U17 girls’ team. Her goals: the Bundesliga and the national team.

 

Marlene Wagner Makes the Cut for the Hesse Team

Indeed! We do a quick Google search and find Marlene’s photo under “Defense” on the Blue-and-Whites’ website. What a fantastic journey she has had—and still has ahead of her! Former coach Lothar Potthoff has every reason to be proud. He was part of the adult coaching staff at the Marburg-Weimar Girls’ Soccer Club (MSG), where it all really took off. Together with Jan Arnold, Julia Günsch, and Sascha Meusel, he guided and encouraged the young athlete’s progress on the green field. From the regional team, she made the leap to the Hesse state team.

 

U-16 Prospects Training Course

In the C-youth division, Marlene joined the boys’ team at Blau-Gelb Marburg. That winter, Marlene participated in a talent development camp for the U-16 national team.

TSG Hoffenheim had already approached the young soccer player last October after the South German Championship. Will everyone be giving her the thumbs-up in the end? If so, it’ll be time to pack her bags and move!

 

Moving to a new home, changing schools

And that’s exactly what happened. But when dreams come true, there are practical matters to work out, as the young player quickly realized: moving into a shared apartment in Hoffenheim and changing schools. She was a little nervous. Would everything work out? In the end, the light turned green. Everything was all set.

Steinmühle let Marlene go. The good news: It’s just for one year to start with! The talented soccer player passed her medical exam at the end of June and took the next step in her career on July 1. With the support of personalized training and strength training, Marlene can learn a lot in Hoffenheim, tap into her full potential, and pursue her goals. Her focus: settling in well and playing lots of games with her new team. Her next goal: the TSG Hoffenheim U20 team, which currently plays in the Women’s 2nd Bundesliga.

 

“High level of motivation”

Lothar Potthoff, who also coaches the Steinmühlen women’s soccer team, is both happy and sad to see his center back move on. “We’re losing a good player, but we’re incredibly proud.” He praises Marlene’s strong work ethic, her remarkable determination, and her mental and physical resilience. “You can really feel the strong support she gets from her parents.”

The excellent soccer academy Marlene attended played a big part in her development: “The BG Marburg team and its coach, Pascal Rohpeter, gave me such a warm welcome.” There, she trained three times a week and played with the boys in the Gruppenliga, and last season in the Verbandsliga Nord. “That’s not something to be taken for granted,” Marlene herself says. The family rivalry with her brother Konrad, who plays for TSG Wieseck, is also unusual and very special.

 

“A stroke of luck for me”

Marlene considers it a stroke of luck that she is currently able to train with Hoffenheim, a club whose women’s first team plays in the 1. Bundesliga. “If I can follow this path all the way to the national team, then I will have achieved my biggest goal.”

The young woman, who is a Bayern fan and greatly admires Joshua Kimmich, is described as “aggressive on the field, but down-to-earth as a person.” Ideal circumstances, one might say—thanks in part to her current Steinmühlen homeroom teacher, Dr. Bernd Schweitzer, a die-hard soccer fan who supports Marlene’s passion wholeheartedly. After all, they understand each other well, since his subject is math—and that, along with sports of course, is Marlene’s favorite subject.

(Angela Heinemann)

 

 

Steinmühle Makes Sports Experiences Possible: 32 Groups Tried Out Various Sports

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“Right before summer break…nothing much is going on at school anyway.” — Anyone who thinks that probably hasn’t experienced Steinmühle yet. No, we don’t overwhelm our students with lots of highly challenging brain teasers anymore. But a little guidance on which sport they might enjoy in the future—that’s definitely possible!

 

Active Day for Grades 5 through 12

This idea laid the foundation for the two consecutive sports project days. For several years now, they have been a permanent fixture in the annual program at the Steinmühle School & Boarding School. Divided into 32 groups, students in grades 5 through 12 try out different sports. They registered for these in advance, listing their first choice and three additional sports.

“We make a variety of sports experiences possible,” says Marcel Kalb. He is a biology and physical education teacher and also the school’s athletic director at Steinmühle. Since Steinmühle cannot offer all sports on its own, it partners with various clubs. “We rent out the occasional sports facility and also make use of external workshops. This happens in disciplines where we don’t have our own expertise.”

 

The Stone Mill as a “Sports Mill”

Experience has shown that everyone finds something that piques their curiosity or that the students have always wanted to try.

For example, there were activities in basketball, American football, ballet, golf, handball, fitness, lacrosse, judo, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts (MMA), padel tennis, pickleball, horseback riding, gymnastics, rowing, and dance. Of course, there were also activities in soccer—and, building on that, an opportunity to learn about the role of a soccer referee.

Even the very warm temperatures didn’t bother the vast majority of students. They took the opportunity to try out sports they hadn’t experienced before. So it was another great success for Steinmühle as the “Sports Mill.”

 

(Angela Heinemann)

 

Tips from the MAFEX Team: How Do You Create a Pitch?

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Powi-plus students in grades 9 and 10 recently presented their product ideas to a panel from MAFEX, the startup service at Philipps University of Marburg. – So this is what it feels like when founders and young entrepreneurs present their ideas on TV on “The Lion’s Den”!

The students at Steinmühlen learned that a pitch lasts 2 minutes, is presented from memory, and ends with a clear call to action, a clear message. The time in between should be filled with confident statements that highlight a great product and a competent team. Ultimately, the project should be realistically feasible.

The student groups had 12 minutes to prepare their respective presentations for the team led by MAFEX Executive Director and Professor Dr. Vivien Procher. Although the presentations already sounded quite professional, the groups still received a number of tips from the experts on how to further refine their presentations.

(Heinm)

 

DS 11 presented a captivating theatrical performance titled “Titanic 2.0—A Reconstruction”

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The 11th-grade DS class, under the direction of Ines Vielhaben, presented a magnificent performance at the Theater am Schwanhof (Tasch). The ensemble performed the play “Titanic 2.0—A Reconstruction” so authentically that the audience felt not as though they were sitting in front of the stage, but almost as if they were right in the middle of the action themselves. The 45-minute performance was extremely captivating and provided a few goosebump-inducing moments, which were due not only to the play’s title but also, to a large extent, to the actors’ skill.

 

Praise for Outstanding Teamwork

The performance at the Theater am Schwanhof took place as part of the Central Hesse School Theater Festival, as Ines Vielhaben reported. She was most pleased with the excellent teamwork among the students in the drama course, even in the run-up to the stage performance: “Together, the students found solutions for recasting roles due to illness. Everyone took responsibility for the props and all the stage equipment.”
The larger stage, Ines Vielhaben continued, was obviously a great challenge, and it was worth enriching the play with two additional scenes so that the versatility of the actors and actresses could be showcased even more.

It will be interesting to see what the audience will get to see during the Q phase.

(Heinm)

From Poetry to Slam: A Treasure Waiting to Be Uncovered

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Literary talents from Steinmühle met with the well-known author and spoken-word artist Leah Weigand to prepare for the 1st Marburg School Slam. It is a treasure waiting to be unearthed: the ability to transform one’s own thoughts and experiences into artistic words and to inspire others with them. This goal united the 11th-grade students who met with Leah Weigand at Steinmühle on May 8 to write—in a way that was quite different from how they usually have to write in school.

 

“Respect the poet”

In a pleasantly relaxed and highly motivating atmosphere, the participants gained valuable inspiration through various creative writing exercises. The result was a range of texts, both short and long—sometimes funny, sometimes mundane, occasionally philosophical, thought-provoking, and poetically striking—all guided by the event’s theme: “Respect the poet,” and captured on camera by Björn Wagner.

 

How It All Began

It all started at the poetry slam at KFZ last December. Class 11a attended the event, was very impressed by the artists there, and our colleague Björn Wagner—who also performs as a slammer in his free time—put us in touch with Leah Weigand, who hosted the slam at the KFZ, who is also a bestselling author and a sought-after slam poet in her own right.

 

Cross-School Collaboration

The desire to nurture not only scientific but also artistic and literary talents at Steinmühle has long been a priority, and now the opportunity has arisen to bring a professional woman to our school. But that’s not all. When discussing how to finance this project with the Hessian Innovation and Advisory Network for the Promotion of Gifted Students (HIBB), the idea arose to establish a cross-school collaboration.

 

The project’s highlight on June 10

We were able to recruit a teacher from the Elisabethschule and a teacher from the Philippinum, who also offered poetry workshops at their respective schools. The highlight of this project so far is scheduled to take place on June 10 at 7 p.m., when students from all three schools will compete in a literary contest at the Forum der Steinmühle and celebrate the 1st Marburg School Slam, moderated by Leah Weigand.

We’re really looking forward to it and say: Don’t miss it! Mark your calendars.

(Kristina Sokoli)

 

An sweetgum tree in front of the riding school at the Steinmühle boarding school

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An sweetgum tree was planted on the grounds of Steinmühle to mark “Arbor Day.” The project was carried out by Balzer Garten- und Landschaftsbau, a landscaping company based in Buchenau. The tree stands at the entrance to the riding school at the Steinmühle School & Boarding School and is intended to serve as a long-term, visible symbol of sustainability and environmental awareness.

 

Strengthen environmental education, promote climate awareness

The planting initiative was supported by the Hesse-Thuringia Association of Garden, Landscape, and Sports Field Contractors. The goal of the initiative is to strengthen environmental education and further promote awareness of nature and climate issues.

Among those present at the planting were State Parliament Representative Dirk Bamberger (CDU), school principal Björn Gemmer, and Frank Balzer, managing director of Balzer Garten- und Landschaftsbau. Students from the gardening club also took part in the event. It was a new experience for them: instead of working in the greenhouse as they usually do, they were able to participate in a large-scale tree-planting project for the first time.

In the future, the young people will also take responsibility for the tree. As tree sponsors, they will monitor its growth and continue to actively support nature and the environment.

 

Beautiful fall colors

The sweetgum tree, which can grow up to 20 meters tall, is an impressive tree for both solitary and group plantings thanks to its fall colors. The play of colors in its foliage is striking and beautiful to behold. However, according to the specialist firm Balzer, the sweetgum must be watered diligently at first to thrive.

(Heinm)

 

What to Do in Your Free Time? The Youth Center Presented Its Open Programs

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In the Steinmühle schoolyard, the Haus der Jugend presented its recreational programs for children and youth during the first and second long breaks. These include the Volle Hütte youth club, the boys’ club, the media clubs, the kids’ club, the girls’ club, the queer club (all at the Haus der Jugend), and the Beekeeping Club (in the city forest).

The program is aimed primarily at middle school students and was organized in cooperation with school social worker Mara von Essen: “The goal is to make the girls and boys aware of these programs and invite them to check them out,” she explained.

(Heinm)

 

 

Understanding Life on Earth: A Journey with Dr. Judith Klatt to the Earth’s Beginnings

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High UV radiation, heavy metals, extreme temperature fluctuations, low oxygen levels: some microbes thrive in places it’s hard to even imagine. Geomicrobiologist Dr. Judith Klatt, who has been working at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg since 2022 and serves as a research group leader at the Mikrokosmos Erde Future Center, took her audience at the Steinmühle on research journeys to explore these microbial survival experts.

 

Interdisciplinary Work

The scientific lecture “Bacteria at the Limit” was also a journey back to the very first microbes and the origins of life: “It’s about understanding microbial life and, at the same time, the limits of life,” said Dr. Judith Klatt. This understanding emerges at the intersection of several disciplines: physics, biology, and chemistry.

 

A broad temporal scope

One of Dr. Klatt’s research sites, for example, is Hawaii: “Our work opens a window into Earth’s history spanning a timeline of 4.5 billion years,” the researcher reported, thereby giving her audience an idea of the temporal scale under consideration. Environmental science topics are also frequently incorporated into her research stays, helping to better understand the fluctuations in maximum temperature and in the oxygen and CO2 levels of the atmosphere throughout Earth’s history. According to Dr. Klatt, both are very closely linked to the “global microbiome.”

 

Fundamentals of Molecular Biology

Extreme habitats continually open up new horizons for research and research teams. For example, the fundamentals of molecular biology were isolated from microbes in extremely hot or cold habitats: these include the enzymes used in polymerase chain reactions (PCR), which form the basis for paternity tests and DNA fingerprinting in forensic science. Microorganisms such as cyanobacteria—commonly known as blue-green algae—have also been responsible for oxygen production and played a key role in the oxygenation of our atmosphere during the Precambrian era. Cyanobacteria are single-celled organisms that live in both fresh and saltwater and obtain their energy through photosynthesis, much like our green plants. This process produces oxygen, which escapes from the “microbial mats” and can be measured by Dr. Klatt’s team, for example, using microsensors.

 

Research Under the Most Challenging Conditions

“It can be difficult to work in the field,” the speaker recalled, citing, for example, a research trip to the high Andes at an altitude of 3,000 meters. A 24-hour trek to the nearest supermarket presented the research team not only with the challenge of answering their research question using complex methods but also with the difficult task of self-sufficiency. No stable life for microorganisms has been detected there so far. Oxygen alone, therefore, is not a reliable indicator of life.

 

Impressive photos

At the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, the extreme conditions that the research team encounters in the field are also simulated in the laboratory. “While we can never quite replicate the conditions from field research exactly as they occur in nature, this approach still allows us to study the enormous dynamics within an extreme habitat very realistically, even over longer periods of time,” explains Dr. Judith Klatt, who illustrated her presentation with impressive photos and sparked great enthusiasm among the students with her talk.

 

Outstanding Researcher

Through her work, Dr. Judith Klatt helps make Marburg a center of excellence in cutting-edge research. In 2024, for example, she was awarded an ERC Starting Grant by the European Research Council.

The presentation was part of the “Microbes for Future” lecture series organized by the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg in cooperation with the Central Hesse Student Research Center (SFZ).

The scientific presentations will continue.

(Angela Heinemann / Dr. Sven-A. Freibert)

 
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Do you have questions about the school?

School Administration & Management

Björn Gemmer & Dirk Konnertz
Phone: 06421 408-20

schule@steinmuehle.de

Do you have questions about the boarding school?

Boarding School Administration & Management

Anke Muszynski & Dirk Konnertz
Phone: 06421 408-0

internat@steinmuehle.de

Do you have questions about the school?

School Administration & Management

Björn Gemmer & Dirk Konnertz
Phone: 06421 408-20

schule@steinmuehle.de

Do you have questions about the boarding school?

Boarding School Administration & Management

Anke Muszynski & Dirk Konnertz
Phone: 06421 408-0

internat@steinmuehle.de

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