{"id":47620,"date":"2023-08-31T21:58:42","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T19:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.steinmuehle.de\/blog\/2023\/08\/31\/a-cozy-get-together-but-also-a-time-to-say-goodbye-the-facultys-annual-summer-party-is-a-roller-coaster-of-emotions\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:37:15","slug":"a-cozy-get-together-but-also-a-time-to-say-goodbye-the-facultys-annual-summer-party-is-a-roller-coaster-of-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/blog\/2023\/08\/31\/a-cozy-get-together-but-also-a-time-to-say-goodbye-the-facultys-annual-summer-party-is-a-roller-coaster-of-emotions\/","title":{"rendered":"A cozy get-together, but also a time to say goodbye: The faculty\u2019s annual summer party is a roller coaster of emotions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The stress is melting away; after a long school year, summer vacation is just around the corner. The evening sun bathes the schoolyard in a warm, atmospheric light. The smell of the barbecue fills the air, and glasses clink. For the Steinm\u00fchle School Association, the annual summer festival on the last Thursday before summer vacation is a top priority. <\/p>\n

To ensure that all colleagues can enjoy a wonderful evening, no expense or effort is spared, and a feast is served. Saying goodbye to colleagues is the only downside to this festive evening. \u201cIt would be even better without them,\u201d you hear here and there. But everyone knows full well that part of this celebration is also recognizing the contributions of the employees who, for various reasons, will soon no longer be part of the Steinm\u00fchlen team. <\/p>\n

Many former teachers are here tonight. Every year, quite a few of them take the opportunity to spend a few hours with the colleagues they worked with during their school days. Tonight, many of them are also here for Bernd Holly, who is retiring. The farewell ceremonies for the principal have been taking place at the Loop since early July, and he admits in his usual laid-back manner, \u201cI\u2019m done.\u201d <\/p>\n

Among the other colleagues leaving Steinm\u00fchle is Bella Gnodte. She will be working at blista in the future. \u201cA creative, dedicated, and well-liked colleague\u201d\u2014Steinm\u00fchle regrets her departure. Victoria Kaster will also be teaching at a different elementary school in the future, which her colleagues find very unfortunate. Janine K\u00fcster, the principal of the Steinm\u00fchle Bilingual Elementary School, highlights Victoria Kaster\u2019s \u201cwarm, loving nature\u201d and describes her as someone \u201cwho took on every challenge.\u201d \u201cYou were a true pillar of our elementary school,\u201d adds Dr. Rainer Nietzke on behalf of the works council. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to see you go.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mathematics and physics teacher Julia Bernzen, n\u00e9e Riemenschneider, is moving to Hamburg in the far north for family reasons. She joined Steinm\u00fchle as a student teacher in the spring of 2016 and was offered a permanent contract. \u201cYou were always there whenever help was needed,\u201d her colleagues recall of the popular teacher, who was equally well-regarded in conversations with parents, students, and her team. Julia Bernzen served as head of the mathematics department for some time and taught the subject at both the bilingual elementary school and the upper secondary level. Her colleagues concluded: \u201cIt was always a pleasure to work with you.\u201d <\/p>\n

After these tributes, a musical interlude seemed like the perfect choice. Ulrike Wilmsmeyer, Frank Wemme, Kristina Sokoli, Daniel Sans, and Anna Prokop sang a farewell canon. <\/p>\n

Next up was Eberhard Wieth, a math and computer science teacher. Like Bernd Holly, he, too, is leaving Steinm\u00fchle to retire. Among other things, Principal Bj\u00f6rn Gemmer highlighted his dedication to the StoneApp, which Eberhard Wieth had initiated as a \u201cstudent package\u201d in his computer science classes. Characteristic descriptions of the departing teacher included terms like \u201cthe cheerful bear,\u201d but there were also memories of how it all began for Eberhard Wieth at Steinm\u00fchle. \u201cI was your mentor,\u201d recalled Constanze Oestreicher-Gold, head of the upper school, with a smile. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Actor David Bennent <\/strong>celebrated with the Steinm\u00fchle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Between speeches, performances, and a buffet prepared by the boarding school kitchen, school director Dirk Konnertz welcomed a very special guest: David Bennent. The professional actor, who rose to fame for his role in the film \u201cThe Tin Drum,\u201d was at Steinm\u00fchle for the second time as an instructor for a workshop led by Ines Vielhaben and celebrated with the Steinm\u00fchle faculty. <\/p>\n

Once again, there was music afterward. Kristina Sokoli, Anna Prokop, Daniel Sans, and Frank Wemme used their voices and instruments to express their appreciation for their departing colleagues and musically conveyed the message, \u201cWe will miss you.\u201d As a new member of the school administration, Tobias Karlein then passed the baton back to Bernd Holly: \u201cOver the past six months, you\u2019ve been a role model to me in every way, and we\u2019ve almost become friends.\u201d <\/p>\n

The outgoing principal admitted, \u201cIt\u2019s difficult when you\u2019re constantly getting standing ovations.\u201d Saying goodbye had not been easy for him. Tenor Felix M\u00fcller, a Steinm\u00fchle high school graduate this summer and future student at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, began singing \u201cTime to Say Goodbye.\u201d The fact that Steinm\u00fchle not only wins awards for achievements in the natural sciences, math competitions, athletic successes, or reading skills, but also produces graduates who gain admission to a leading university for music, theater, and the visual arts, demonstrates once again just how well-rounded the school is. <\/p>\n

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The stress is melting away; after a long school year, summer vacation is just around the corner. The evening sun bathes the schoolyard in a warm, atmospheric light. The smell of the barbecue fills the air, and glasses clink. For the Steinm\u00fchle School Association, the annual summer festival on the last Thursday before summer vacation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":47625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,102,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-celebrations","category-former-students-alumni","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49442,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47620\/revisions\/49442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}