ACTIVITIES Germany
Interview with Tayfun Tok, deputy of Green Party & Holger Albrich, mayor of Sachsenheim on April 26
The Gemeinschaftsschule am Sonnenfeld was honored to host two special guests:
Tayfun Tok, deputy of the Green Party and Member of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg and Holger Albrich, mayor of Sachsenheim! Mr. Albrich
Tayfun Tok (left), Holger Albrich (center), Bernhard Dietrich (right)
In an interview, students from all five countries had the opportunity to ask their questions regarding the daily work of a politician and especially their work with regard to sustainability.
Mr. Tok, for example, uses his bike to get to the train station, hates plastic and thus shops in unpacked stores. In addition, he supports education and promotes a so-called "talent center": No matter the social background, a good education should be available for everyone!
The full interview can be found in our podcast.
Welcoming of our project partners at our school on Monday, April 25
It was finally time to get to know in person! On Monday morning, our partners arrived at the station in Sachsenheim where they were picked up by some German students, while others were taking care of the final preparations.
Principal Bernhard Dietrich welcomed our guests in a speech:
Dear Erasmus guests!
I am very happy to welcome you in Sachsenheim today.
My name is Bernhard Dietrich and I am the principal of the Gemeinschaftsschule am Sonnenfeld.
I hope you had a good trip to Germany and I really hope that you’re going to have a great time together, here in Germany as well as in Brussels.
I especially want to thank the teachers who are accompanying you. They have organized a lot, prepared and planned things and have made it possible, thanks to their commitment, that we are able to be together today.
You have worked on fantastic projects. Maybe one or the other remembers me, I was able to attend a part of the videoconference in which you presented your projects, and was amazed by your ideas, your English skills and especially by your courage to speak in front of people you had never met before.
At the moment, there are many people on their way through Europe, especially women, children and teenagers like you. Unfortunately, they are coming for a different reason. They are coming from the Ukraine, fleeing war.
And I would appreciate if we could pause for a moment to think of those who are fleeing their home country because of a war of aggression, seeking shelter in the rest of Europe.
It becomes even more important what you are doing right now.
You are getting in touch with people from other countries, work together, talk to teenagers from different countries and share the same sorrows, fears, hopes and goals.
By carrying out your projects related to the Global Goals as well as your common journey to the European Parliament, you are shaping a small piece of our future: United, across borders, with a bit of courage and fun you’re standing for a generation advocating for their future.
If everybody acts like you, we’ll look into a great future!
A special thank goes to Anne Rischen who has organized everything for us.
I wish you lots of fun and an awesome time here in Germany as well as great impressions and experiences on your trip to Brussels.
After a guided tour around the school led by students, there were games aiming at getting to know each other. This was great fun!
Soon after the partner groups had some time to prepare their posters, which were then presented to the other students and teachers.
A group of German students had prepared, along with their cooking teacher, a fantastic fingerfood lunch! Our partner ALWA had been so kind to offer drinks for theses two days - thanks again for this.
After lunch, the group went for a walk around Sachsenheim to discover the water castle and a few other sights.
In the evening, dinner took place at Hans im Glück Burger Bar in Stuttgart. Our guests there were Dr. Markus Rösler, deputy from the Green Party, and Mr. Matthias Wolf from the Ministry of Education.
A calendar for sustainable living
Throughout the school year, this project group researched the web, read books and talked to different people to collect ideas on how to make a living more sustainable. Originally, their aim was to create a paper version of a calender, but they ended up with digitial one.
Why a calender? Here's what they say:
To us „Sustainable Living“ means to save the world from dying. We want to achieve that through keeping our biological footprint as small as possible. We want to make things right, that others did wrong before us.
Sustainable Living means to us to not waste anything and not using things that can’t be recycled. We want to help others to life live to the fullest without hurting the planet.
Our project contains a calendar which has tips and facts, about living sustainable, in it. With the calendar we want to support people reaching their goals without it being to hard.
The calendar contains help in every live part. We have tips for the kitchen, the bathroom, clothing, groceries and more stuff. We help to design your daily live sustainable. For example we are showing you how to make your own deodorant, inspire you to take a look at Secondhand shopping and buying reusable bags.
Every week you get a new exercise or challenge. We also inform you about the damage we do without actually knowing that we could do easily better.
Our calendar is informing and challenging. We hope we can help you with it to life sustainable.
Hamster wheels for our school yard
Project Energy Playground
Our project goal is to bulild/plan a playground and spots center that produces energy while being used. We achieve that by attaching generators (like dynamors) to the playground equipment. But our plan is not only to build a playground that produces energy. We want a playground that’s sustainable (as far as possible). We want to create a playground that’s absolutely unique. While other playgrounds have things like swings or slides, we want special things like a huge hamster wheel. But not only children can use the park. Also teenagers and adults can use it for sports activities. So the playground is also great, because it helps you to stay healthy. It’s proofed that sports increases the working speed and memorability. So you produce energy while staying healthy. The energy could be used to run, for example, e-scooters. So you can charge the scooter while training and use it after it. Also, if you park the e-scooter before school, the kids, in the break, will charge it for you. While using our playground the kids will feel good for helping the world, while getting better conditions and stay healthy.
Right now it’s only a plan, because we currently don’t have the opportunity too make it energy-efficient in the end. Also the cost are too high and the plans need to be checked by a professional.
Why not dispose of trash in a fun way?
On a walk through their hometown, they focused on trash, and there it was: cigarettes on the ground, gums, general garbage. Especially at the main station.
Asking themselves the question of WHY people are either too lazy or too ignorant to dispose of their trash in a good way, they started looking for a solution:
Why not do it in a fun way?
To attract people's attention, this project group designed a prototype of a trash bin in the form of a basketball basket.
They even had the chance to present it to Tayfun Tok, deputy of the Green Party, when he visited the school. "I'll take this idea to the Landtag!"
Donations for Homeless People in Stuttgart
One project team made up of three students, Jasmin, Julia and Veronika, decided to support our local homeless people in Stuttgart. After having discussed their plans with the Banhofsmission - an organization which supports homeless people - they set up a letter for their fellow mates and asked for donations. What they did not expect: They collected a total of 600 euros!!! Not only were they overwhelmed by all the money, but also by all the kind words they got as feedback.
Today they went to Stuttgart all on their own and went shopping. Since the organization cannot except any financial support, they bought urgently needed products like tea, coffee, snacks, deodorant, bread, hygienic products,... and even some cholocate Santa Clauses for Christmas!
What they've learned so far: The support of their project idea within our school community was amazing!
