On Friday, 24 June 2022, the Abitur class of 2022 held its Abi Dinner on Härlen campus. The evening began with a champagne reception and an opening speech by Brigitte Mergenthaler-Walter, the school’s director of studies and managing director. She happily announced that all 80 members of the class had fulfilled the conditions needed to sit the oral exams which would begin in three days.

As speaker of the class of 2023, I had the honour of contributing words of farewell to the soon-to-be graduates. The evening programme was garnered with musical interludes on piano and horn. As coordinator of the Abitur programme, Torsten Bick also offered his congratulations and thanked the students for their endeavours over the past two years. The evening’s highlight, however, was the valedictory address by the grade 12 class speaker, Julius Lachnit. In a nonchalant manner, he was able both to elicit smiles and get his listeners thinking. Afterwards the students and course teachers exchanged presents. Poems were recited, words of gratitude spoken, and the biology teacher Thorsten Peters was even presented an apple tree. For my part, I found these to be very lovely and emotional gestures which reflected the high regard the students and teachers have for one another. The Abi Dinner 2022 was in every way a satisfying evening which we will long remember.

Lilly Czupy, Sprecherin Abi1

The annual “Motto Week“ for students in grade 12 was held between July 18 and 22, 2022. On each  day of that week, students “dressed up” in a different fashion style according to the theme of the day. These included an “Assi” (i.e., asocial) day, a day for gender switching, pyjama day, and mafia day. On the final day, the graduating class carried out a prank, the so-called Abistreich, by removing all (500!) chairs from the auditorium on Härlen campus, before spreading toilet paper throughout the large hall to try and sabotage the school assembly which was scheduled for the following afternoon. But the assembly could nonetheless be held after a group of teachers spontaneously came to the rescue by removing the “decorations” and re-assembling all the rows of seating.

Amelie Portier, IB1, KVV-Sprecherin