The Latin Students in Trier: Two Student Reports

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For the 9th-grade Latin field trip, we traveled to Germany’s oldest city, Trier. After a long train ride and a brief detour to the beautiful city of Luxembourg, we checked into our hostel, which was located right in the city center, just a few hundred meters from the Porta Nigra. After getting an overview of tranquil Trier through a city scavenger hunt, we had the chance to explore the city on our own. The next day, a “Roman slave girl” guided us through the city. She took us to many places where traces of Roman life are still visible. We also gained deeper insights into Roman life through a guided tour of the Rhineland State Museum in Trier, featuring mosaics, sculptures, and everyday objects. The tour ended with a look at the gold treasure that was discovered in 1993 during the construction of an underground parking garage in Trier. In addition to the Porta Nigra, we also visited the Basilica of Constantine and the thermal baths. Our visit to Trier was rounded off with a private theatrical tour of the amphitheater. Isaac Boateng used a dramatic performance to tell us the story of a gladiator who attended a gladiator school in Trier and took part in fights in the amphitheater.

Nele Heinemann and Lotta Ritter

 

This year’s Latin field trip took us to the historic city of Trier, considered Germany’s oldest city. There, at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, a truly impressive exhibit awaited us: the Trier Gold Coin Hoard.
This sensational discovery is one of the largest and most significant coin hoards ever found worldwide. It was discovered in 1993 during excavation work in Trier and handed over to the museum. In total, the hoard comprises 2,650 gold coins that were minted during the Roman Empire between 63 and 196 AD.

From Emperor Nero to Marcus Aurelius, the coins feature the portraits of 27 famous Romans. The discovery gives us a fascinating glimpse into just how splendid Trier was during the Roman Empire. The gold used in these coins alone is worth several million euros today.

However, something so valuable also attracts shady characters. In October 2019, two masked men attempted to steal the treasure by force. Fortunately, the robbery failed because the thieves were unable to break the display case’s security glass. Since then, security measures have been strengthened, and the “
” gold treasure of Trier can now continue to be admired by interested visitors.

My conclusion:
Trier is great! If you ever find yourself there, immerse yourself in the history and richness of a city that was once almost as resplendent as mighty Rome itself.

Clara Victoria Meinrad

 

 

Trampoline jumping and Carnival with our French guests

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French teacher Ulrike Wilmsmeyer sent in a student report on the Marburg-Châlons French exchange:

On Tuesday, February 6, our exchange partners from Châlons-en-Champagne arrived. After a nine-hour train ride to Marburg, we gave them a warm welcome at the train station.

Our extensive program began on Wednesday with a day at school. We showed them around our school, and they observed a German class. In the evening, we got to watch the revue premiere with our exchange students. On Thursday, we went on our first group field trip, which took us to the Chemikum Marburg. There were two different labs there where we were able to conduct many experiments. The dry ice experiment was the most popular.

Afterward, we went to the climbing gym together. There, we had the chance to boulder and climb. After refueling with tarte flambée, we walked to St. Elisabeth Church. Due to the bad weather, we then ended our outing. On Friday, we took the train to Frankfurt to visit the Film Museum. We started with a detailed guided tour of the exhibition, and then we were divided into small groups to shoot our own films. These films were created using still images played back one after another. This is called pixilation.

After a wonderful weekend with our host families, which included individual outings, we drove to Linden on Monday to visit the trampoline park. Afterward, under the theme “bleu-blanc-rouge,” we headed to the carnival parade in Marburg. In the evening, we gathered at the Forum for a closing party. We enjoyed a large buffet and a lovely look back at the past week, as Mme Barrière had put together a great slideshow for us with photos and videos. On Tuesday morning, we took our exchange partners to the train station at nine o’clock and said our goodbyes.

Looking back, we can say that the exchange was a wonderful addition to our regular French classes, as it gave us the chance to experience things firsthand. Our French skills have, of course, improved significantly over the course of this week. Hopefully, this will also be the case during our return visit to Châlons in May.

We are grateful for this opportunity to exchange ideas and hope that future students will have an equally wonderful opportunity and great experiences.

By Lilli Ansorge, Sophie Böhm, Luna-Marie Körner, and Nils Rettig (9th grade)

 

Sewing Project Showcases Diversity and Community

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Steinmühle has always been a place of internationalism, diversity, and tolerance. Our international students are part of a vibrant community characterized by openness to the world. This is what Principal Björn Gemmer wrote on this occasion to call for a demonstration in support of democracy and against right-wing incitement and violence.

In Class 6i, in addition to German and English, the students also speak Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Turkish, Polish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Flemish, Persian, Marathi, and Kurdish at home, according to Theresa Großer, head of the International High School Program. This linguistic diversity reflects the international character of our school.

To celebrate this diversity, art teacher Ines Vielhaben came up with a collaborative project for the entire class as part of the “Clothes Make the Man” initiative. The planned mural is intended to symbolize the natural diversity and sense of community among the global citizens within this class. Each student in the class sewed and decorated their own leaf, fruit, or insect onto this tree. The photo was taken by Gisela Glatzl, who has been actively supporting the sewing project as a volunteer for many years.

Cambridge Certificates for 30 students

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Thirty students earned their Cambridge certificates this summer at Steinmühle High School. “Five of them even achieved Level C1, even though the goal was only B2,” says Principal Björn Gemmer happily. All participants attended the recent certificate ceremony, including their supervising teachers, Nicole Hohm and Matthäus Otte. The following students passed the exams (listed alphabetically): Annabell Bork, Katharina Lena Bradler, Ella Augustine Carroll, Vivien Leonie Ettrich, Julia Fischer, Constantin Franz, Florentine Maya Sophie Havemann, Henning Oskar Hepting, Yewon Jeong, Josefina Justus, Silas Benito Krüger, Jannik Malte Kurras, Felix Christoph May, Arvid Paul Andreas Mayer, Sienna Katharina Jasmin Mayer, Jakob Severin Merle, Emilia Sophie Metz, Selim Erdem Özcan, Tamim Rezek, Anna Franziska Rumpel, Laura Salavati, Emma Sophie Schnabel, Arwen Aimée Seifart, Lillian Cara Camille Seiler, Nina Jolanda Simmer, Juliane Fiona Miriam Spies, Alicia Spitzhüttl, Robin Philipp Tatje, Jan Simon Vollmer, Melina Wagner. In June, when they received their certificates, the graduates were still in 11th grade and are now, accordingly, in 12th grade.

Very positive response to Spanish Day

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To make up for the canceled Spanish exchange program, Spanish teachers Mar Montenegro, Laura Cubillas, and María Ramos celebrated a Spanish Day with the students in classes 9a, 9b, and 9c who are learning Spanish. As part of the event, the group went on a scavenger hunt in Spanish through the Marburg Art Museum.

During this event, the students were to learn from a Colombian art historian about Colombia’s regional art and its development over the past few centuries, and to engage directly with the museum’s artworks that had particularly caught their attention that day. At the end of the field trip, the group had a picnic in the old botanical garden.
María Ramos summed up the day on a positive note: “The students’ feedback was so positive that we are considering making this field trip a regular part of the department’s curriculum.”

DELF with Great Results

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At last, it was once again possible to take the external French exam “DELF”—which Steinmühle has been administering since 2005—without any restrictions or rescheduling.

This year, 9 students took the European-recognized language certificate exam, which assesses their skills in reading comprehension, listening comprehension, oral expression, and writing based on their grade level.

With a few practice sessions outside of class, along with great motivation and personal responsibility, the students in grades 9 (A2), 10, 11, and 12 (B1) all passed and achieved very good results. The oral exam took place in Gießen, and the written exam was held at Steinmühle, both on Saturday mornings.

We are delighted by this extracurricular involvement and extend our warmest congratulations to everyone.

Congratulations!!!

Philian Merle Performs Well Again in the Next Round of the Reading Competition

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On the very first Monday after the Easter break, the winners of the city and county rounds had to take the stage as readers in the next round of the district competition at the Giessen City Library. Philian from Class 6c once again delivered a compelling performance.
Once again, he skillfully evoked the moods of the texts—both the prepared ones and the unfamiliar ones—and, with the latter, he once more demonstrated his quick grasp of the given moments. Overall, he was very skilled at drawing the audience into the story. However, he was not alone in this regard during this round. Nine talented young readers demonstrated remarkable reading skills, a fact the jury highlighted in their brief remarks. The selection was, inevitably, not an easy one for the jury. The fact that Philian did not advance to the next round—along with six other strong young readers—was something we had to accept, as is customary in competitions. All in all, it was an admirable “reading journey,” and we were delighted to accompany him on it. Hats off to him!

Philian Merle Wins the City-Wide Reading Contest for 6th Graders

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All eight school winners from across the city gave excellent and captivating readings on Monday, February 27, in the hall of the Building Authority at Barfüßertor, whether they were reading their prepared text or the assigned “unknown text.”

There was also a wide variety of talent on display: one participant skillfully brought the various characters to life with a subtle voice; another knew how to effectively highlight the onomatopoeic nature of certain terms; others developed an impressive dramatic structure through calm delivery and sensually intelligent pauses—and there were many other powerful moments as well. In his reading of the text of his choice, Philian Merle created a remarkably vivid scene with strong characterization in the dialogues. That may have been the deciding factor in the jury ultimately awarding him the victory. We’re thrilled for Philian (and his “fans”) and wish him the best of luck in the next round. At the same time, we’d like to thank the organizers from the Haus der Jugend as well as the friendly jury, who put together a wonderful, entertaining event that truly honored the young readers.

 

Enchanting: The Reading Aloud Contest for 6th Graders

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By the age of 12, reading has long since become a part of everyday life. At the same time, reading well and understanding well remain an ongoing and ever-changing challenge—one that lasts a lifetime. This also applies to reading aloud well, where we can often notice how language has the power to enchant us. Readers can thus become enchanters! Around 20 children from classes 6a, 6b, and 6c embraced this magic at the end of 2022 and took part in the nationwide reading competition for sixth graders. The event was organized by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.

 

Philian Merle represents Steinmühle at the city level

All the girls and boys gave compelling and moving readings, which were met with applause and admiration from their classmates in the audience as well as from the “juries,” consisting of teachers and, in some cases, fellow students. Only one person advances to the next round in this competition, whether it’s during the class reading or in the second round, which took place in early December and involved reading in front of all classmates in the grade. As the “school winner,” according to Frank Wemme, head of the lower secondary school, Philian Merle will “represent” Steinmühle in the next round at the city level in 2023. He was selected by the teachers’ jury in December—which was no easy decision, given the high quality of reading by all three “class winners,” including Aenna Arnold and Matteo Dörbecker.The school extends its heartfelt thanks to all the brave readers for taking part. Their participation is what made it possible for Steinmühle to compete in the first place.

Our photo shows the participants in the 6th-grade reading contest: (top row, from left) Antonia Mahnken, Fabian Preis, Till Kretschmann, Ben Borawski, Ben Templer, Arthur Böning (Class 6c), Sara Strempel, Lotte Schröder (Grade 6b), Anna-Lena Griesler (Grade 6c), Helena Taschner (Grade 6b). Bottom row, from left: Janna Gosejacob, Julia Hedoch (Grade 6c), Samri Wulf, Aenna Arnold (Grade 6a), Matteo Dörbecker (Grade 6b), Philian Merle, Ceysu Sevinc, Maja Böttcher (Grade 6c), Fenja Schlegel (Grade 6b).

Uruguay Exchange: Learning from Each Other—Not Just the Languages

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They miss their mate tea a little, and dinner is always “pretty early”—but everything else is absolutely perfect for Giulianna and Bruno from the German School in Montevideo. Together with their teacher Riobaldo, they are guests at Steinmühle for a total of six weeks. The stay is part of the Uruguay exchange, a project organized by Steinmühle Spanish teacher María Ramos. Following exchanges in 2019 and 2020, this is the third exchange between students from Uruguay’s capital and Steinmühle. In turn, 11th-grade Spanish students have the opportunity to experience everyday school life in Montevideo. For Lilli and Ben-Luis, there are only a few weeks left until they set off on their return visit to South America and experience daily life at the partner school. 1,300 students attend that school; it is the oldest German school in Latin America.

Bruno began learning German in Montevideo when he was in kindergarten, and added English in elementary school. He enjoys learning languages. His classmate Giulianna’s interest in the German language stemmed from her German uncle and a visit her father made to Germany, “which he enjoyed.” Ben-Luis, a student at Steinmühlen, also has family reasons for wanting to improve his Spanish: “I have relatives in Spain.” Lilli, Giulianna’s exchange partner from Marburg, wants to travel a lot when she grows up and is looking forward to improving her Spanish where it’s spoken.

Of course, the young people had already done a bit of research on their respective host countries before their trip. When asked about the environmental problems of our time, they collectively conclude that there is still room for improvement on both sides: Montevideo, with its population of just under 1.5 million, meets 90 percent of its energy needs through wind and hydroelectric power, but does not practice waste separation. — Just one example of this.

Exchanges offer the best opportunities to improve language skills and learn a lot from one another. The young people all agree: “It’s a great program. We recommend it.” Our photo shows (from left) Lilli, Giulinanna, teacher Riobaldo, Bruno, and Ben-Luis.

 

 
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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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