Four of Salem's students have passed their "Abitur" with the dream mark 1.0
Published on isbi School News dated Monday 22nd of July 2013
- 136 students at Schule Schloss Salem have passed their "Abitur"- Numerous prizes and awards were presented
- The "European university entrance examination" (Europ�isches Abitur) has been passed for the first time
- A farewell with champagne and tears
Towards the end of a cheerful "Abitur Ball" in the early morning of 22nd June, where everyone had been in very good spirits, a wave of emotion, so typical when leaving Schule Schloss Salem, now became clearly evident; it was not simply a question now of saying goodbye to one's fellow-students that one had spent some time together with at school, but parting from many dearly loved friends whom one had developed close brotherly and sisterly relationships with during the time spent at boarding school. In many a glass the champagne was now mingling with the tears shed by the pain of parting. Nevertheless, there is one consolation - the two-year Whitsun Meeting for the Salem Alumni guarantees a regular opportunity for reunion.
On the day before the Abitur celebration there was a formally festive atmosphere in the "Zehntscheuer" building at the Castle in Salem. 91 students who had passed their "Abitur" examination had gathered together; in addition, there were 45 students who had taken their International Baccalaureate in the English language but would not be receiving their results until a fews days later, as their examination is assessed as part of a worldwide system. Bernd Westermeyer, as the Principal, wished his ex-students two things, i.e. the certainty "that life, despite all its hardships, does not represent an inevitable fate", and to keep Salem permanently in good memory, so as to give back to their old school a part of what they had gained there.
The Director of Studies, Brigitte Mergenthaler-Walter, took stock of the academic balance and pointed out the broad range of offers during this course year, which had presented a particular challenge to the teaching staff this time in their educational efforts. Nevertheless the average mark reported was 2.3 - a really respectable figure when one considers that about one third of the "Abitur" holders had come from abroad and had commenced their school career at Salem without German as their mother tongue. A very positive result was the fact that approximately one third of these "Abitur" students had a "one" before the decimal point. Four of them who were all young ladies, obtained a one point zero, headed by Julia Wasenm�ller with a fantastic result of 883 out of 900 possible points. 13 students were presented special awards and prizes for their academic achievement.
However, the successes in passing the university entrance examination at Schule Schloss Salem are never achieved for academic work alone; the boarding school's particular fields of competence are always included, too. For their excellent commitment in this respect, above all in the Salem Services, Ken Lander, as the Head of the Boarding School at Salem College, presented awards to 21 "Abitur" holders.
As the parents' representative, Christina Cantzler expressed her thanks to Schule Schloss Salem for all that the students had achieved. She had every good reason to be proud as her son had managed to stage a premiere; in addition to his other obligatory fields, Cassian Cantzler had additionally passed his "Graecum" examination; this was the first time in Salem's history that the so-called 'European university entrance examination' (Europ�ische Abitur), had also been achieved, i.e. with two old and two modern languages taken through to the final examination.
Special awards for Salem students who have passed their "Abitur"
For their excellent commitment at the boarding school the following students were presented with the so-called "Gro�e Auszeichnung" (Major Salem Award): Carolin Christ, Annabelle Marquardt, Sophie Ostmeier, Vivien-Lil Pauling, Johannes Adam, Jasper Kloss, Cedric Ziegler, Gerda Buchm�ller, Alexandru Tamas and Jennifer-Carlotta Warisch.
The following members of the Salem Services were honoured: Marie Lembke, Philipp Blaseg, Luisa Matz, Florian Genske, Nele Löcher and Sophie Steffen.
Awards for sport were presented to Matthias Handtmann, Julia Wasenm�ller, Jacob Richter and Monica Izquierdo Pinol.
The "Music Prize" was presented to Viviane Gerger.
Academic awards
Salem prizes in Science, Mathematics, English and Economics went to Josua Sellmaier, Andriy Bayuk, Nele Löcher and Leonie Lankes. Anna J�ger won the Karl Frisch Prize in Biology, Daniel Grodd and Felix Illek the prize awarded by the "Gesellschaft der deutschen Chemiker" (Society of German Chemists), Cedric Ziegler and Vincent Wagner the prize awarded by the "Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft" (German Physical Society), with Cedric Ziegler also being awarded the Ferry Porsche Prize in Mathematics and Physics. The prize awarded by the "Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung" (German Mathematical Society) went to Patrick Marquardt and Leonard Koch. Katharina Schreiber won the Scheffel Prize awarded by the "Deutsche Literarische Gesellschaft" (German Literary Society).
