Training seminar for student representatives: Changing schools

Student council means changing schools. That was the title of a recent student council congress at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. And from February 12th to 18th, the wannseeFORUM also focused on how schools could be changed for the better. Students of Wilma Rudolph High School, of Paulsen-Gymnasium and the Willi-Graf-Gymnasium They came together for a week at the wannseeFORUM to gather ideas for their future student council work and to learn the necessary skills for articulating and implementing their projects in the various workshops.
The week began on Sunday in the theater hall with a World Café, where students could gather at different tables to share what they disliked about their school, what they thought the school should look like, and what they urgently wanted to change. After this, they went to their respective workshop groups for an initial opportunity to get to know each other and the medium.
The group then spent the week refining their various projects and products. Black and white photography She intensively studied the topic of accessibility in schools and took many photos, which she developed herself in the darkroom.
The Theatre group Inspired by current political events, they worked on a campaign code for student council elections to ensure that the candidates with the best ideas, and not just the most rhetorically skilled, would win. To this end, they developed a play about a fictional student council election with two completely opposing candidates.
One digital photo story It originated in the working group of the same name, which focused on exclusion and prejudice. Within a week, a storyboard was developed, photos were taken, and the music was composed in-house.
The comic group created a booklet about the conditions at their fictional school in the past, which were improved with the help of the student council. The artists didn't shy away from any stereotypes about teachers, and fittingly, the booklet was titled "Horror School.".
Even the rap group She addressed problems in our school system and called for "change" in her song. Her concerns are reducing performance pressure and improving the treatment of students by teachers.
Thursday finally arrived – the day of the presentations. In front of many guests from the various schools, each workshop group presented their results and was rewarded with thunderous applause. Afterwards, the students and teachers were able to chat over coffee and cake and exchange ideas about what they had learned during the week.
On Saturday, the large-scale student council simulation took place. Each workshop group submitted a proposal to the student council of the fictional "School at Pohlesee." Each proposal was called by the meeting chair, presented by the respective group, and then debated together. Every student had the right to speak and vote. The vote determined whether the proposal was adopted as is and forwarded to the school conference, or whether it was amended or rejected. After the evaluation, the seminar program ended on Saturday, and the students could look forward to the closing buffet and party.
And so the first student council seminar of 2017 came to an end. Hopefully with many good ideas and resolutions for the coming year.