"Graduation with distance." this was the motto for the presentation of certificates in the upper playground of the frankische schweiz grammar school, which was held by principal siegfried reck under the motto "start – goal – arrive" had made. The distance, which was due to the security measures because of corona, already began with the fact that most of the fest guests, who were limited to 180, came to the closing ceremony in ebermannstadt with mouth and nose coverings and then took their seats at the small tables that were set up at a safety distance.
The direx made it himself
There was no real party atmosphere, as is usually the case at the graduation balls in the town hall. Actually, it was only a certification ceremony, which also took place from a distance of one and a half meters. The principal did not want to place the graduation certificates on a small table, as had originally been discussed, but still wanted to hand them over personally. Reck therefore had a funny idea, in that he had a kind of verlangerten "direxarm" with which he presented the certificates to the graduates.
There was no hand pressure, as is customary in normal times, nor was there the participation of political celebrities or the greetings of katrin hofmann, chairwoman of the parents’ advisory council, and nina behr of the high school’s forderverein. Whether CSU member of the state parliament michael hofmann, district administrator hermann ulm, mayor christiane meyer or the bavarian minister of the environment thorsten glauber – they all congratulated in writing, and the words of the ceremony were then read out. The unusual ceremony lasted only a little more than an hour.
Additional charges due to corona
Glauber wished the outgoing students luck and foresight for their future. In his letter, he emphasized the absolutely exceptional situation, which was accompanied by additional burdens that were difficult to imagine. "It is the pandemic that does not allow them all to be present today", the principal emphasized in his speech.
But it was not only a very special year because of corona, but also because of the low number of only 51 high school graduates, which was due to the participation in the pilot project "mittelstufe plus" was due to. Because ebermannstadt has long had a nine-year high school, which means that this year around 60 fewer young adults took their general university entrance examinations. For a normal class the playground would have been too small under corona rules again. Graduating student pauline haas from waischenfeld and music teacher thomas schreiber framed the ceremony with two musical pieces.
"You were a great, determined and persevering graduating class", principal reck shouted to his ex-schoolers. They had passed the exams without exception. His thanks went above all to the two upper level coordinators klaus metschnabel and dietmar schneider. They had made the "favorable calculations" prepared and plausibly presented, advised the high school graduates individually and looked forward to high school graduation day with them.
Tests were on the verge of being overturned
It was not at all certain that the examinations could take place at all this year. But in the second attempt and with a few weeks delay everything went over the stage. Schneider was very impressed by the good cut, which came despite the corona crisis. Top of the class with a dream grade of 1.0 was isabella pieger. Also honored were alexandra pohlmann with a grade point average of 1.1 and carina pohlmann with 1.2. Also very good were isabella bohm with a 1.3 as well as pauline haas, leon lang, luisa link and jessica moosmeier, who brought a 1.4 into the finish.
Graduates and their families were eagerly awaiting the school speech. This part was taken over by lukas gotz and luisa link. Gotz rather humorously: "there are more important things in life than a rolex: two rolexes". "When I look at the big picture, we turned into something", said link, who was responsible for the more boring part of the school speeches and addressed the parents: "you’ve given us the consolation and the necessary kick in the pants."
Small private party afterwards
Freely after paulchen panter she added: "also is not all days, we see us again, no question." and they all saw each other again at the end of the "certificate ceremony" at a small, privately organized graduation party in the meadow garden. So quickly no one will forget this unusual graduation ceremony.