The start of a new chapter in life: 94 young women and men have graduated from high school

Created: 06/24/2022, 10:00 am

By: Andreas Mayr

Headmaster Tobias Schürmer receives applause from the high school graduates for his speech.

©Andreas Mayr

It's over: 94 students have received their Abitur certificates at Murnau's Staffelsee-Gymnasium.

The young people have about 13,000 hours of instruction and 600,000 minutes of school behind them.

Murnau

– On days when words are interchangeable and texts are repeated, it is the symbols that speak.

They explain why it is the way it is.

So this high school graduation ceremony in Murnau, the first in the old style post-Corona, was perhaps so remarkable because her language was so clear.

Every breath, every song, every gesture was like a magnifying glass that focused everything from that afternoon on the essence of twelve years of school: on the 94 students of the Staffelsee-Gymnasium and their Abitur.

The educational institution has thus achieved an elegant and pleasing 180-degree turn after the slip-up of the previous year.

There had been massive criticism from teachers, parents and students because the day of honor, which was actually supposed to serve the students, mutated into verbal competition and the students, well, you have to say it so harshly, were dealt with on stage.

For Absolvia 2022, at least that's how it seemed, the school management and organizers sanded down point by point and carved out a completely new concept.

It all started with the visual language.

The caretakers erected a grandstand on the stage, on which the graduates sat with their certificates.

They were enthroned above the auditorium for everyone to see.

There is no better way to stage appreciation.

On top of that, this complemented the topic

Five-minute agreement

The organizers had advised the keynote speakers to limit their contributions to a few minutes.

Only Tobias Schürmer exaggerated a little, which was happily conceded to him as headmaster that day.

The official part rushed by at almost the speed of light (42 minutes).

Even the high school graduation speech by Ophelie Jüptner and Moritz Vogelsang ended after five minutes - and still contained everything that one needs to go back to eight years of high school: anecdotes from Kampfmeister Holzmann, the former headmaster with a black belt, or the grass bobsleigh tours on the Hörnle, coupled with the necessary words of thanks.

Five minutes?

You have to do that first.

Class through simplicity, compression, reduction.

That was the recipe for success that permeated this graduation ceremony.

This left nearly two hours of the spotlight for the students who provided the strongest moments.

Unsurprisingly, those were the ones that didn't say anything.

For example, the music selection of the “goddesses and gods”, as headmaster Schürmer called them.

For many students, it felt as if the tones and basses were actually depicting the life and suffering of the past few years: She loves techno, he loves rap, and six students loved ABBA.

Because Schürmer encouraged the technicians to turn the volume control all the way up, the whole auditorium sank into the bliss of the young people.

Honorary awards for great achievements were cleverly woven into the handover procedure.

With an average of 2.24, this cohort also ranks in the last highly successful final years.

According to Schürmer, 32 of the 94 graduates had a first grade after completing 13,000 hours of instruction and 600,000 minutes of schooling.

Lena Schedler from Seehausen even got the top mark of 1.0.

hymn to life

At the end, after less than two and a half hours of fun, the Murnau "gods" rose and sang "Viva la Vida", which translates as "Live life".

There was no better instruction for all that is happening now.

Then they left the auditorium – and were free.

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