Moving words at the graduation ceremony in Reichersbeuern: graduation and award despite autism disorder

Created: 06/30/2022, 15:00

By: Stefanie Wegele

Happy about passing their Abitur (from left): Sophie Will, Annika Gieselmann, Maja Freidhof, Lara Lang, Nastasya Panina, Cora Krass, Fiona Beutmüller, Lukas Knocks, Xinghao Xi, Heyuan Qiu, Phillip Nielsen, Han Shu, Shu Yang, Vincent Jackel, Eric Pehlke, Julian Gerber, and Michael Kraus.

© Max-Rill-Gymnasium

Anything but average: The graduation ceremony at the Max-Rill-Gymnasium in Reichersbeuern looked back on very special challenges for the students.

Reichersbeuern – In the festively decorated auditorium of the Max-Rill-Gymnasium, 18 high school graduates have now received their high school diplomas in the presence of their families.

Headmistress Carmen Mendez emphasized in her speech that nothing was normal in her year, because with 32 weeks of distance teaching there was practically a school year missing in two years.

Max-Rill-Gymnasium: Crisis used as an opportunity

According to the school, the premiere of the second “pandemic clip” over the past school year showed that both the Abitur class and the school had coped exceptionally well with the pandemic.

The students mastered the compulsory test with ease, the teachers motivated them with a favorite place challenge and lessons in the countryside, the kitchen created special delicacies for the foreign students who remained at the boarding school.

Mendez used the example of the Abitur class to show that the school used the crisis as a great opportunity to develop together in new ways.

Many students had taken part in the performance of "The Picture of Dorian Gray", which was acclaimed by the audience in summer 2021.

The impossibility of rehearsing theater at a distance and with a mask is hard to imagine today.

The big topic of the class, however, was "Me Too" ("Me Too").

This expression is intended to encourage affected women to draw attention to the extent of sexual harassment.

In high school, they dealt with the ideal of equality and thinking about power and femininity together.

In her speech, Mendez interpreted the suits, deliberately chosen by the feminist students, as an expression of the modern woman, as a provocation for the high school graduates dressed in traditional costumes and suits, and as a rebellion against Bavarian customs, but she also pointed with a wink to the importance of the suit as an attribute of patriarchy and as a symbol of positions of power, in order to then interpret the pupils' choice of colour.

This ranged from dominant red to diplomatic grey, forward-looking green, light yellow,

Max Rill students achieve an average grade of 2.5

Mendez also emphasized the social commitment of the class and asked the parents to sponsor one of the 15 Ukrainian children and young people housed in the boarding school.

Coming from a music school in Charkiv for the highly gifted, they created a musical supporting program for the celebration.

The teachers finally celebrated each graduate with an individually tailored speech.

Lara Lang was the best high school graduate with an average of 1.8 and a scholarship from "e-fellows".

Michael Kraus achieved the best “male” Abitur with 2.1, whose social commitment, including as district student spokesman, was highlighted.

After only three years of schooling in Germany, Xinghao Xi achieved the best result among the students with non-German mother tongue with 2.2.

In her speech, Mandy Pehlke, mother of a graduate with early childhood autism disorder, explained that average results do not say much about a person. Her son Eric should have gone to middle school, but now he graduated from high school with a grade of 2.2 and received it the prize of the German Physical Society.

Parents' spokesman Olaf Jäckel also emphasized that a school's belief in a child's potential is crucial.

Michael Kraus thanked the school and the boarding school – their home – on behalf of the entire year.

The class learned to persistently pursue tasks and goals, to believe in themselves in order to achieve more than originally thought possible.

The high school graduates were also said goodbye to other high schools in the district these days.

With clear criticism of the headmaster, the high school graduation speech at the Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium in Bad Tölz caused a stir.

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You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.