Gymnasium Achern is a '' Gymnasium'' (

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

) in

Achern Achern (; ) is a city in Western Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located approximately 18 km southwest of Baden-Baden and 19 km northeast of Offenburg. Achern is the fourth largest town in the district of Ortenau (Ortenaukreis), aft ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, founded in 1877. Its address is Berlinerstraße 30. It has about 1000 students and 95 teachers. The current principal is Fabian Sauter Servaes. It emphasizes science, foreign languages, and art. It was one of the first ''gymnasiums'' in Baden-Württemberg to graduate its students after eight years instead of the usual nine years, before this was made compulsory for all ''gymnasiums'' in the state.

History

The Gymnasium Achern was founded in 1877 as Höhere Bürgerschule. In 1905 it was extended to a

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

and moved to a new building and in 1921 it was raised to a

Realgymnasium ''Gymnasium'' (; German plural: ''Gymnasien''), in the German education system, is the most advanced and highest of the three types of German secondary schools, the others being ''Hauptschule'' (lowest) and ''Realschule'' (middle). ''Gymnas ...

. In 1976 the school moved to the present building; the previous building, built in 1905, houses the Robert-Schuman-Realschule. The older part of the building serves as a residential building. Two extensions to the current building followed in 1997 and 2002. A new building was completed in 2010, which also houses a canteen and creative rooms.

Name

Though many names have been proposed, Gymnasium Achern was never named after a person. Proposed names included the poet

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, who often spent his holidays with his grandparents who lived in Achern, and

Franz Josef Ritter von Buß Franz Joseph, Ritter von Buss (23 March 1803, Zell am Harmersbach – 31 January 1878, Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German Roman Catholic jurist, activist and politician. Life Buss was the oldest of seven siblings in all. His father was a master ...

, a Catholic politician of the 19th century.

Equipment

Due to the emphasis on art education, the Gymnasium Achern has special rooms for this subject area, for example for stone working. It also has extended sports facilities, including two

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

fields and one

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

field. Each classroom is equipped with a

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer type ...

and an

overhead projector An overhead projector (often abbreviated to OHP), like a Movie projector, film or slide projector, uses light to Projector, project an enlarged image on a Projection screen, screen, allowing the view of a small document or picture to be shared ...

. On the school grounds there is also a station for the breeding of

storks Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout Beak, bills. They belong to the family (biology), family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, suc ...

School partnerships

Every fall, Gymnasium Achern sends a group of students to Freedom High School in

Morganton, North Carolina Morganton is a city in and county seat of Burke County, North Carolina, United States. It is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Catawba River. The population was 17,474 at the 2020 census. Morganton is approximately ...

, United States to stay with student's families for two weeks as a part of the German American Partnership Program (GAPP). Then, the next summer, Freedom sends a group of students to stay with the Gymnasium's student's families. 2007 was the 19th year of the program. Other exchange programmes as with the Regina Mundi College Cork in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, Groupe scolaire Saint-Ouen, Pont-Audemer in Normandy,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, Colegio Ágora de Madrid in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and the Hangzhou Highschool No. 2 in Hangzhou,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

are there at the Gymnasium Achern too.

Principals

* until 1986: Egon Stiegeler * 1986–2012: Paul Droll * 2012-2021: Stefan Weih * 2021: Bernhard Seiler-Dollhofer (acting)

Awards

In 2005, the Gymnasium Achern was declared the best school of Germany by the journal

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

. For its extraordinary commitment to Germany's youth competition

Jugend forscht Jugend forscht ( "Youth researches"), commonly abbreviated as Jufo, is a German youth science competition. With more than 10,000 participants annually, it is the biggest youth science and technology competition in Europe. It was initiated in 1965 ...

, Gymnasium Achern was awarded the ''Jugend forscht Schulpreis 2011''.''Ehrung der Gewinner des Jugend forscht Schulpreises 2011''
Press release on the youth research website. Accessed on October 14th 2020. The high school demonstrated many years of outstanding performance in ''Jugend forscht'' based on the number and quality of the submitted research projects.

References

Educational institutions established in 1877 Gymnasiums in Germany Schools in Baden-Württemberg 1877 establishments in Germany