Graduation 2023

Report by Susanne Grimm.

Stetten am kalten Markt (sgr). Last Wednesday, 12 July, 43 young people from the Stetten a.k.M. school centre were discharged with a cheerful celebration and their graduation certificates in hand. 33 of them obtained the Mittlere Reife, the other ten the Hauptschulabschluss. Rector Dr Christof Probst congratulated the young people and expressed his hope that they would be fit for the challenges that lie ahead. An important and formative period of life was coming to an end, but now it was time to look ahead. Turning to the young people, he quoted Georg Kerschensteiner with a lot of subtle humour. Kerschensteiner was a modern educator who called for self-responsible learning: "Education is what remains when all that has been learned has been forgotten. Of course, there is content that needs to be questioned, which is why, says Probst, "the curriculum changes every ten years". But the task of school is "to give you a certain basic knowledge". Because without certain basic knowledge, for example in civics, you can hardly become a responsible citizen or "without what you have learned in English, you would literally be speechless in a globalised society". He urged the young people not to see mistakes as something negative, but as a help, because in a fast-moving world, the ability to learn throughout one's life must be particularly strong. This also includes the ability to work in a team, a positive attitude towards learning and the willingness to take risks. Unlike previous generations, today's school leavers would change their profession up to four times during their working life "and some of you will work in professions that do not even exist today". Probst hoped "that we as a school have succeeded in teaching you these skills".
All these skills, knowledge and qualities rounded off the concept of education. Before the headmaster and the teaching staff, called learning guides in the community school, handed out the certificates, prizes and commendations could be awarded to particularly successful pupils. Adrian Nistroi was the best pupil of the year with the lower secondary school leaving certificate and received the prize from the municipality from the hands of Mayor Maik Lehn. Lehn particularly highlighted Adrian's achievements, as the pupil only came to Germany in the sixth grade and had learned the German language very quickly. He described the strong young man as a "gentle giant who reliably takes care of others and has integrated well". Other prizes from the municipality went to Sarah Nolle and Desirée Bernadotte as best in their year at the Realschule. Prizes for best performance in mathematics and English went to Erik Leutner. Nikoleta Nikolova was also awarded for best performance in English, who also scored best communication in English and French. English communication was also the prize-winning strength of Jacek Sielicki. Lina Sieber was awarded for the best performance in the profile subject Physical Education. Together with her classmates Alina Arnold and Desirée Bernadotte, she received another prize for sustained social commitment in the school community from the hands of school social education worker Tobias Buck, whom Konrektor Jürgen Lebherz described as "Europe's best school social education worker". Afterwards, it was learned that Tobias Buck, who is highly appreciated by pupils, teachers and parents, will leave the Stetten school centre at the end of this school year, where he has worked for more than ten years. This will be reported separately.

Anna Strölin was also honoured in the compulsory elective subject French, as was Desirée Bernadotte for her best performance in the compulsory elective subject "Everyday Culture, Nutrition, Social Affairs". The best grade point average, and thus the winner of the award, was achieved by Realschule student Anna Strölin with 1.6. Sarah Nolle and Desirée Bernadotte shone with a grade point average of 2.0, followed by Jule Glückler with 2.1. Vanessa Bosch, Vanessa Butz and Lena Fritze were close behind with 2.2 each. Davina Nolle spoke on behalf of the parents and thanked the staff for their work, as did Manuela Keller and Gabi Hotz from the secretariat. She described them as the "heart of this school, without whose background work the smooth running of this institution would be unthinkable". Headmaster Probst, who has been the head of the school centre for two years, is also "a great enrichment to this school". He belongs to the category of people who were born to be teachers and leaders "without ever forgetting that they were once pupils themselves". The students sang the song "Ein Hoch auf uns - uns" with a lot of fun and quirky sounds, before they, relieved of their compulsory schooling, plunged into the festive hustle and bustle.

Info: Of the dismissed tenth graders, 20 are starting an apprenticeship, five have decided to do a voluntary social year. Three more will attend a vocational college and five young people are continuing their school education by attending a vocational grammar school. Of the ten lower secondary school leavers, four are starting an apprenticeship and three want to take the intermediate secondary school leaving certificate at the two-year vocational college. Another pupil is doing the "9+1" at the school centre, i.e. adding another year, and two other pupils want to do the "9+2".