From September 2nd to 8th, 2019, 50 class representatives and committed students from the Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium, the Robert-Jungk-Schule , and the Fritz-Reuter-Schule gathered at the wannseeFORUM. Their goal was to prepare themselves for their roles as student representatives during the seven-day seminar and to exchange ideas with the other schools. To this end, an initial assessment was conducted in each school group at the beginning of the seminar, using the following guiding questions:
What's going well/badly at your school?
What should be improved at the school?
What can student representatives do to help with this?
During the subsequent presentation of each school, highlighting its respective focus areas and specific challenges, particular attention was paid to the work of the student council. It became clear that many of the issues facing the student council at one school were similar to those at other schools, or that solutions had even already been found. Thus, the discussions yielded thematic clusters for further work in the coming days.
On the afternoon of the first day, the students divided into five creative workshops. Through a collaborative process, each workshop group agreed on its own thematic focus, which was further developed artistically throughout the week and ultimately presented to an audience. The video group explored the deliberate manipulation of information and produced the short film "FakeNews." With their second short film, "Killer Turtle," they also drew attention to environmental pollution caused by plastic waste. The theater group focused on how to deal with right-wing students. In their play, they presented a future in which the AfD (Alternative for Germany) has won the federal elections and students aggressively make dehumanizing remarks in the classroom. Since the teachers are unable to counter this, the student council organizes a demonstration under the motto "Tuesday for Democracy" to take a stand against discrimination and racism. The comic group , a parody of a well-known fictional character titled "Hairy Schnotter," the story of the students' struggle to implement teacher feedback. The comic was presented live as part of the final presentation and was also printed and distributed as a booklet. The black and white photography group created several series on diverse topics such as nature, ignorance and exclusion, equality, and consumer society. The images were presented in an exhibition , and visitors had the opportunity to ask the respective photographers questions. The audio group produced three pieces in which they interviewed passersby on the street about the following topics: a survey on political interest, voter turnout, election results in Saxony and Brandenburg, the AfD's electoral successes, alternatives to the AfD, climate protection, and lowering the voting age to 16; a survey on sustainability regarding the use of plastic bags and reusable bottles, the purchase of seasonal and regional products and organic meat, attitudes toward Fridays for Future, and avoiding air travel; and a survey on gaming: how much time should young people spend on it and how much money should they spend on it?
On the penultimate day of the seminar, a simulated student council meeting was held as part of a role-playing exercise. Each group submitted a proposal, which was then discussed with the other groups and finally put to a vote. Topics included the renovation of the computer labs, teacher feedback, dealing with discrimination and racism, the creation of a green classroom, and the implementation of sustainability principles in the school.
After a review of the past few days and the awarding of participation certificates, all the students returned to their daily routines with renewed optimism. We wish them all the best in putting their newly acquired skills and project ideas into practice.
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