The Ecole d’Humanite’s Berent-Haus was awarded the PlusEnergieBau Diploma yesterday in Sursee! Since its opening in October 2017, this sustainable building housing the Ecole Learning Center and library has received high praise from students, teachers and guests. It now wins the Swiss Solar Prize, thanks to...
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Since its opening on the Hasliberg in 1946, the Ecole d’Humanité has been pursuing a holistic education that trains young people for life. It promotes skills and abilities, which have now been included in the Lehrplan 21 (new recommendations for Swiss school curriculum).
But what is the secret of good education?
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The graduates of both the Swiss and US school systems were honored in beautiful and moving ceremonies. We wish all the graduates the best of luck in their future endeavors!
Check the photos here:
US Graduation
Goodbye Ceremony, Swiss System
The Ecole d’Humanité is honoured to have Milica as Artist in Residence for the school year 2017-2018. This has been made possible through the European Voluntary Service.
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Pictures here
Students, helpers and staff members are all back safe and happy after their adventures during the traditional 6-day-hike.
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How clean is the Hasli-Water? Students from Tom and Ben’s 'Biology on the Hasliberg' inquiry course class give you the answer!
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This year we were again performing a concert in the Michaelskirche Meiringen during the Pentecost week-end.
As Ecole students and teachers took their seats in the new Grossen Saal for the first Andacht of the term, we heard a lively celebration of spring.
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This week at the Ecole, we joyfully celebrated the success of our six high school graduates from the Swiss system, who all passed the demanding Federal Matura Examination. We warmly congratulate Dea, Luca, Manuel, Rafael, Rebekka und Simon and wish them all the best for the future!
Music students from the Ecole and local village school dazzled again in another end-of-term recital.
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Pictures here
Final rehearsals are underway for the Ecole's annual Shakespeare play: The Tempest, a story of magic, betrayal, forgiveness and moving forward. We invite you to join us for the performances on Saturday and Sunday at 7:30pm at the Ecole!
Drawing by the student Lola Goncharova
During last weekend's "Fasnacht" (carnival) celebration, the Ecole traveled back in time to 1985 where they dressed as cheerleaders, jocks, and nerds in a theme based on the movie "The Breakfast Club." Sylvan played the role of 'School Principal Mooney,' leading us all through a day of silliness, songs and celebration.
Pictures here
Recently Chris took his AP Physics class to Interlaken for their first experience with curling. Chris started curling six years ago, and he loves sharing the sport and its unique physics with students. After experimenting with the stones and ice, the group faced off in a short game which resulted in a 1-1 tie.
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On Tuesday evening, more than 30 girls and women of the Ecole gathered in the Ruth Cohn Center for 'Frauengruppe' - a regular meeting to talk about women's issues at the Ecole and in the world. The 'Frauengruppe' was first convened by Natalie Lüthi, and this tradition of building community and confidence among the young women of the Ecole continues. For their first meeting of 2018, the theme was “Embrace and Let Go”.
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They attend three academic courses in the morning, and they choose their afternoon courses from a wide range of performance arts, handicrafts, and sports offerings.
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Visit our gallery to see actual pictures!
The whole school enjoyed watching an old Austrian play with live music from the Ecole Singensemble as well as from the Ecole string quartet.
We wish you happy and peaceful holidays!
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... Ecole students and local children performed a diverse and vibrant selection of pieces, running from classical masterworks to folk lullabies, musical theater and contemporary pop music.
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...are two important features of an American Thanksgiving celebration, but they’re also part of daily practice at the Ecole. So, we wondered, “What can we do to make Thanksgiving special here?” Two students, Narra F. and Allegra P., took on this challenge and, with an eager bunch of assistants, set out to create an Ecole evening to remember.
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Photos here
...and the Ecole opened its doors to visitors - inviting them to participate in classes, join Ecole families for lunch, exchange and network with School Directors and other visitors, and to take part in Singgemeinde!Read more here
Photos here
At the Ecole, every fall we dedicate one week to one project. The students are free to pick which project they will take up, and then in groups of 2 to 8, the week is dedicated to this project alone.
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On Wednesday, October 18th, we opened the Ecole’s newest building, the "Eberhard Berend-House", in the presence of Mr. Christoph Ammann, Government Councilor and Director of Political Economics.
Mr. Ammann praised our school, saying that "The Ecole d'Humanité is unique, and sparkles in the diverse educational landscape of the canton of Bern like a rock crystal in the sun."
More than 160 guests, including members of the business and political communities as well as local residents of our area, enjoyed the modern building, which will now be used by Ecole students as a library, learning and research center, and meeting place.
More information here
Photos from the Opening here
Photos from the Eberhard Berent-House here
As they do every fall, Ecole students with MitarbeiterInnen left campus for the “4-day hike.” This year we had seven hike groups spread across the Bernese Oberland, hiking as many as 60km with 300m to 1000m elevation gain per day. Most groups stayed in tents while a couple were in huts, and all prepared their meals outside on cook stoves or over open fires. In addition, the Mountaineering group explored the area between Gstaad and Sion, including the Wildhorn at 3248m. Finally the Mountain Biking group rode near Einsiedeln in Canton Schwyz. As the weary but triumphant hikers, bikers and climbers returned, we seized the opportunity to interview Tom Sampson, our Outdoor Manager.
4 Day Hike Photos here
The first Talent Show revealed another year of creativity and a rich diversity of talents !
Pictures by a talented student: Narra Fortin
The new school year started a couple of days ago. Returning students are getting to know the new ones and the Ecole families are bonding more and more each day. In one of the first Family Meetings and in the Opening School Assembly, we talked about “living together”. What does “living together at the Ecole” mean to you? Read here a few of the thoughts we heard!
We explored cultural diversity, peaceful coexistence, wide-ranging talents, and academic highlights - all elements that are part of daily life at the Ecole d'Humanité. During the festival we celebrated, honored, and closed another fruitful school year.
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Photos from the Summer Fest, Les Misérables, Warum, Shakespeare
The twelve graduates represented nine different countries and were surrounded by friends and family who traveled from around the world. We heard moving speeches of the individual journeys that brought these friends and classmates together on this momentous occasion. Congratulations Class of 2017! We wish you all the best and hope to see you again soon!
Our alumni Füsy (Jonas), Sascha and Ramy (Vikram) have developed a contemporary gardening project. If you have no space, no time, or no experience with gardening, you can still grow your own vegetables, thanks to their business “Gmüesgärtli". Your garden will be delivered in boxes and planted by the "gmüesgärtlern". This is an ideal project also for the many Ecolianers who will go on to live in urban areas.
About 30 specialists and teenagers discussed this question here at the Ecole from May 19th to 21st, 2017. We opened our doors to a pedagogical workshop, as part of the project «Schulen der Zukunft» (Schools of the Future) and in collaboration with the Brain Researcher Gerald Hüther. The debate centered around the theme of how young people can be supported in finding their own motivation and achieving self-actualization.
After a few years' hiatus, we will finally gave another concert in the Michaelskirche Meiringen, led by our longtime Mitarbeiter, Ernst Thöni.
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Photos here
“Finding a balance”. This is the title that Nico (a student at the Ecole since 2013) and Sarah (a teacher at the Ecole since 1977) gave to the point that they brought to “Schulgemeinde” (our weekly school assembly), to discuss with and question students about their way of dressing. This issue, which goes beyond the boundaries of our campus, highlighted the daily complexity of living together, but also the chance to live in a community enriched by its diversity.
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The strong relationship between the Ecole and the Dorfschule in Hasliberg has resulted in an unprecedented artistic collaboration. We are very proud of our student, Serene, who will play the piano accompaniment for the Dorfschule performance of the musical "Kunterbunt." We invite you to see the performance on Tuesday, May 23rd and Wednesday, May 24th, at 8pm in the Hasliberg Congresssaal.
June Vinhateiro, Director of Admissions for the US Program, recently presented at the Independent Educational Consultant Association's conference in Denver, Colorado. After the presentation, Ecole alumnus Tino Schuler introduced himself to June. Tino was a student at the Ecole in the early 80's. It's a small world!
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Families, friends, and teachers celebrated the accomplishment of the 3 students in our Matura 13 class who all successfully passed their Matura exams! As Elisabeth Wäschenfelder, Academic Dean of the Swiss Program, noted in her speech, their greatest achievement was not the high marks they received (about which we are nevertheless very pleased) but that they had chosen this strenuous path and followed it through to the end. We are very proud of them!
Fitting that on International Women’s Day, a trio of young women journeyed to Leysin American School for the GLOBE Citizen Science Day.
Elisabeth Wäschenfelder and Roman Jaschok attended a meeting with colleagues from the school association "Blick über den Zaun" at the Solling School in Holzminden, Germany, where they participated in a workshop presented by Simon Ettekoven and Dr. Johan Keijzer on "Differentiation in Open Classes.”
Following the remarkable performance of our dance and theatre play ‘L’invitation au voyage – The Invitation to Journey’, the cast continued to rehearse... before going on tour!
The Ecole was a guest at the "Münchner Bildungstagen" on February 4th and 5th!
When you attend school in a village in the Swiss Alps, it can be hard to stay connected with what’s happening in the rest of the world. So on Monday, January 30, students were given an opportunity to discuss the pressing global issue of democracy in an event called ‘Democracy In Action!’
Pictures here
Snow is here! Check how snow sports are now part of our everyday life at the Ecole.
The winter has now settled in the Hasliberg. And Ben’s science classes are making the most of it! Check how students learn and explore at the Ecole!
The traditional Christmas play has beautifully ended our trimester. The whole school enjoyed watching an old Austrian play with live music from the Ecole Singensemble as well as from the Ecole string quartet.
The Ecole welcomed parents for a beautiful wintry Parents’ Day.
During the Ecole “Intensive Week”, students were able to focus on one project for 5 days. They could actually choose between 20 project offers, including: textile project, instrument making, knitting, performance prep (singing, acting, dancing), climbing, advanced baking and café, Sherlock Holmes, wilderness writing and hiking, sparring with silence… Check out how one group of students has been building the new Clay Pizza Oven!
Following in Geheeb’s footsteps the Ecole reasserts the worth of walking in the wilderness with the 6 day hike. Again, groups went to Northern Italy and to many parts of Switzerland. The weather was mostly sunny and warm, but many groups were surprised to wake up to snow on the 4th morning.
Thanks to a number of generous donations, last Monday we were in a position to celebrate a milestone in terms of mobility.
Started during intensive week in October and completed throughout the winter, the Ecole has a new outdoor chess set.
As Mitarbeiters and students return for the last trimester of the academic year, we remember the bright light with which we ended the last semester.
Behind the scenes, off the ski-slopes, many students were rehearsing for the annual Shakespeare Play. Hours and hours of practice - learning lines, learning to embody characters and develop their own relationship with the roles. In addition many students, including a few mitarbeiters, developed the stage design. All was organised and conducted by mitarbeiter Meghan Deere.
Ski Touring classes complement the winter activities offered at the Ecole. They are extremely rewarding - students get great exercise ascending slopes and great rides down enjoying powder runs.
On February 11th, 2016, the first detection of gravitational waves was announced. The news had a great impact worldwide, as a revolutionary era for our understanding of Nature is now about to begin. In fact, the ability to observe gravitational waves will open new eyes on the cosmos, allowing us to learn much more on, e.g., black hole, neutron stars, supernovae and the origin and the evolution of the Universe.
I think that on some level, every educator followed the path they did with the shared hope of inspiring their students. If we are really lucky, our students inspire us.
About five years ago, Jordan Hattar came into my classroom at the end of the school day. I hadn't seen him in a few years since he had left the school where I was teaching in California at the end of 9th grade. He had come to tell me that he had just returned from a trip to the south of Sudan, which had not yet broken off to become the country of Southern Sudan. He had met one of the "Lost Boy" refugees and been invited to come with him on a relief trip to his home country. Jordan had raised money for the trip and for the mosquito nets and sandals they distributed. "I wanted you to know," he explained, "because your class is the first place I ever heard the word 'Sudan.'"
After a mild December and with the return of the students, winter has finally arrived in the Hasliberg. Unfortunately this means a lot of shovelling, but students will now spend a good fraction of their time on the mountain - skiing, snowboarding, skitouring, sledding and hiking. Students take ski and snowboard lessons from complete beginner to advanced freestyle and freeride and some students learn ski/snowboard touring so they, with the highest regard to safety, can chase fresh lines in the Haslital.
Professor Dr. Dr. Ueli Aeschlimann gestaltet Weiterbildungen für Ecole MitarbeiterInnen
Am 6. Januar 2016 wird Professor Dr. Dr. Aeschlimann zum wiederholten Male die Ecole besuchen , um eine Weiterbildung für MitarbeiterInnen durchzuführen, nachdem sein Besuch im Januar 2015 bereits ein voller Erfolg war!
Over the course of the fall trimester, Mitarbeiter Alain has worked with a group of student to meditate on a poem in order to produce a play, in the French language. This year they’ve been meditating Recueillement by Charles Baudelaire which, in English, roughly means Contemplation or Meditation.
Intensive week at the Ecole provides an opportunity for students to focus on a single project. One of the twenty projects on offer is for students to develop a theatre piece in preparation for sex education day.
The Ecole buzzes with enthusiasm during intensive week as students get to choose a project, from about 20 options, to work on for a week - without distraction.
Psychologist and Meditation Master Ken Mellor recently visited the Ecole. He joined us for a few days and led three sessions:
(1) A talk on the psychology of teenagers with the mitarbeiters,
(2) a meditation session for the whole school and
(3) he spoke in the andacht about his route into meditation.
This year, we had around 50 students and staff participate in Alp day. On Friday 10th October, we went up to Mägisalp with the gondela, ascending through a deep wall of fog.
After a short hike of 15 minutes, we arrived at the "Seemad" and we had a surprise waiting for us.
On November 6th of 2015 the Ecole d'Humanité will host the premier of “Paradise Waits”. This is a production by Teton Gravity Research that features extreme skiing and snowboarding. We would like to invite you to the second official premier in Switzerland featuring Tim Durtschi, John Collinson, Ian McIntosh, and many other incredible skiers and snowboarders.
In the most recent edition of Haslital Magazine the Ecole is profiled within the context of the Hasliberg and the outdoor opportunities it has to offer.
Also within these pages is a Q&A with Ecole Mitarbeiters Tom and Mel, who discuss their passion for Teaching, the Ecole and the Ecole’s setting.
After the 4-day hike, as the school settles into its regular rhythm, students have the time and space to drive various projects forward.
One very popular project is the creation of a musical instrument in the wood workshop.
End of the week before last week the school fragmented into several hike groups as per the 4-day hike tradition - in addition to exploring areas the school has visited before, one group went to Germany to walk along the Rhine Valley.
The Learning Centre has now been running, in its new format, for 2 weeks. It still takes place in the hour between dinner and stille stunde each evening but there have been changes.
To support upcoming 4 and 6-day hikes, myself and six other mitarbeiters trained with the Swiss Alpine Club last week to become qualified hike leaders.
This coming week - after much ground work and the best double rainbow I’ve ever seen - courses, classes, families and various groups transition into their regular rhythm.
There are many firsts in life - many natural, many difficult, many unnoticed. Being dropped off by your parents at a boarding school for the first time, regardless of personality, must be unforgettable. The new students arrived, from many corners of the globe, this past Sunday on a perfect summer’s day. With the aid of their helping students, they found their new houses, bedrooms, sheets - the essentials.
Last week 25 Ecole students made a pilgrimage to the now abandoned ski slopes of the Hasliberg.
Last weekend the famous lines “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.” were spoken by Jonas as he played Macbeth in this year’s Shakespeare production.
As part of their Holocaust and Human Behavior class, Noelle Borders, Isaac May, Narra Fortin, Hallie Scarborough, Samira Firouz, Dominik Hahn, Felix Benton, Royina Banerjee, and Lucas Millership, and Mike May traveled to Dachau, Germany, and visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial site.
The 6 day hike led by Guido, Chantal, Katherine and I explored the Swiss/Italian border region west of Locarno.
Women’s Self-Defense, taught by Franz, is a new afternoon course at the Ecole this trimester. Emphasis in the class is on role-play, so that with practice the participants can respond more calmly in a threatening situation.
The Vertrauensrat* (Peer Counselling group) has been nominated and selected for the next academic year. As part of their preparations they spent last weekend, with the current Vertrauensrat members, developing their skills as peer counsellors at a mountain retreat near the Brunig Pass.
* 03.01.1944 Ɨ 20.01.2015
Ecole Mitarbeiter from April 1986 to July 2014
On Sunday, June 21st, 2015 (the day after the Summer Fest) we will meet in the Grossen Saal at 2:30pm, to celebrate Volker’s life here at the Ecole d’Humanité.
From Thursday May 14th the Hike Commission turn their eyes to the sky, various forms of weather divination (perhaps even goats, to judge the mood), and our contacts in the Swiss Meteorological Service, to help them decide when the 6-day hike will take place.
Carnival fever could be clearly felt in the Ecole over the last week. In our families we planned and plotted for a couple of weeks prior to the big day.
Our three year 13 Swiss Matura students have completed three and a half years of intensive preparations and finished the second part of their Swiss matriculation studies.
Eine Gruppe von Ecole-SchülerInnen wird am kommenden Samstagabend um 19.30 Uhr im Schulhaus Obernau, Kriens das Theater „DAS TOR“ erneut aufführen.
Last Saturday night here at the Ecole was one to remember. Peace and Justice put on a wonderful Peace and Culture evening.
Last Wednesday night, as well as marking the mid-point of the Winter term, was ‘Fackelabfahrt’ – the annual Torch Run.
Our career planning course spent two days at the "Naturfreundehaus" hostel at Brünig. Our task was to better get to know ourselves and the group.
Wednesday night is my favorite night at the Ecole. Unlike every other night of the week, we eat dinner in our families in the comfort of our homes. It’s a time to share our cultures and cuisines, and in our family, students take it in turns to cook for the rest of us.
On the 19th of January 2015, our beloved and much respected teacher, colleague, and friend, Volker Dembinski, passed away.
Last Monday, four students from the Ecole’s American Program traveled with me to Geneva to participate in the Ferney-Voltaire Model United Nations (FerMUN) Conference. This was the second time that the Ecole’s Model UN team attended the FerMUN Conference, but this year’s team was bigger than last year’s team and more diverse in its representation of other countries.
Our second day back at school for the winter term wasn’t your typical classroom day.
The boys’ soccer team jumped at the chance to travel together to Lausanne last weekend to compete at the inter-school tournament organized by the Swiss Group of International Schools.
In honor of International Day of People with a Disability...some news about a new project we are embarking on.
This weekend the Ecole boys' basketball team travelled to Leysin for the annual SGIS tournament.
Saturday was Parents' Day, and the Ecole opened its doors to visitors - inviting them to participate in classes, join Ecole families for lunch, explore the open workshops, and have a sing!
Here at the Ecole, students grab any chance for dressing up with both hands, and Halloween is one of the highlights in the annual dress-up calendar.
Ecolianers enjoyed a special treat last night, on the first Andacht night of the new school year, when the Bulgarian children's dance group "Chortse" arrived on the Hasliberg as part of a European tour.
The 2014 Blueberry Hike was scheduled to take place yesterday, but drizzly weather led us to postpone it for a day and the payoff was spectacular. Bright blue skies and stunning sunshine lit up the mountains today as all students and staff set off with the other members of their Ecole families to hunt for blueberries on the Hasliberg.
June Vinhateiro, Director of Admissions for the Ecole’s American program, will be attending the School Connections Educational Consultant Workshop in Stamford, Connecticut, USA, from September 8-10.
New students have been on campus for a few days already, and returning students arrived on campus last night, but this morning gave everyone in the Ecole community our first opportunity of the new academic year to unite and get to know each other.
Today was a day of laughter and tears at the Ecole. The morning brought students and staff together for the End-of-Term Assembly and the annual Farewell Assembly, and the evening gave students a chance to slip back into their formal clothes to attend the Seniors’ Dance, the last large social gathering of the current academic year.
Sundays are usually quite relaxed and uneventful at the Ecole, but the last Sunday of the current academic year has been an exception to the rule. The day after one of the best Summerfests in memory began with a graduation brunch for students leaving the Swiss Program and ended with an encore performance of Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Wedding.’
Upwards of a hundred visitors flocked to the Ecole d’Humanité today, joining the two hundred members of our community to celebrate the annual Summerfest. Summerfest is perhaps the most beloved and most anticipated event on the Ecole’s calendar — an extravaganza of education and entertainment — and this year we were blessed with one of the most spectacularly sunny days we have had all term on the Hasliberg.
Fifteen seniors in the Ecole’s American Program graduated from high school last night, receiving their diplomas and throwing their caps in the air at a formal ceremony in the Grossen Saal.
On May 31, just before we all went hiking, four Ecolianers visited the Second Education Conference of Schools of the Future in Zurich. Annabelle, Arik, Leon, and Louise were joined by Elisabeth, the Dean of Academics in the Ecole's Swiss Program, and Barbara, the Director of the Swiss Program.
Waiting for a break in the weather may have led us to squeeze this year’s Six-Day Hike into the latest possible departure window, but we all went off into the mountains last Sunday and reconvened in the Grossen Saal tonight to hear stories and see pictures from each of the hike groups.
As we make our way towards the end of this academic year, with only one month until the current term is over, our Dean of Students, Michael Schreier, took to the Andacht stage last night to offer the Ecole community some thoughts on the themes of change and opportunity. Michael’s presentation of this Andacht is an annual occasion at this time of year, and it serves as a sort of parting gift to those students who are just now entering their last few weeks as Ecolianers.
Here in the Swiss Alps, the transition from winter sports season to summer hiking season usually happens rather quickly, right around Easter, but this year the transition on the Hasliberg and in other parts of Switzerland has not been so swift. Teachers who were at the Ecole during the spring break were disheartened to find it snowing again in the last week of vacation, and weather reports from the south were even more dire! We have had pockets of beautiful spring weather, though, and the spring test hike took place during one of these pockets yesterday.
A few weeks ago, during the spring break, two Ecole students spent time making a special journey to a Buddhist monastery on the Tibetan Plateau in China. There they visited a Buddhist monk who has longstanding ties to our school, and at last night’s Sunday Andacht they shared their experiences with the rest of the Ecole community.
After returning to the Ecole campus yesterday afternoon, all Ecole students came together in the Grossen Saal today to welcome the term ahead. With the sun shining brightly outside and all the winter snow having melted away, teachers Sarah and Alain used the theme of springtime renewal to prepare students for the eventful weeks ahead.
With classes finished for another term and the Shakespeare stage dismantled after two fantastic performances, this morning brought about the last important event of Winter Term 2014.
Last night the Grossen Saal erupted with cheers and applause from more than one hundred and fifty audience members, as the first of two performances of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet reached its catastrophic conclusion. Combining the talents of more than two dozen students and a dozen staff members, the annual staging of a Shakespeare play is one of the biggest and most anticipated events on the Ecole calendar.
As the end of Winter Term approaches, classes are over and there’s a special exhibition in the Geheeb Haus Halle showcasing student work from the last three months.
The snow may have started to melt here on the Hasliberg, but that didn't stop Ecolianers from enjoying it in style when the school's winter season activities came to a close with yesterday's Snowsport Festival.
The latest edition of 'Passport,' the newsletter of the College Board, shines the spotlight on an Ecolianer who earned a place at Oxford University through the AP courses she took while she was a student here.
The last couple of weeks have given Ecolianers some of their final opportunities to enjoy a Ski Day this term as we aim to close the season with our annual Snowsport Festival next Wednesday. Under varying conditions — thick fog one week, brilliant sunshine the next — staff and students have taken to the slopes to take part in as much skiing, snowboarding, sledding, and hiking as possible before the snows melt away.
Today was the ‘Heart’s Wishes’ day for the Winter Term. This morning, all Ecole students were given the opportunity to express their intellectual interests and make wishes for academic courses that they would like to take next term or at some stage in future.
The approach of Lent means that it's carnival time here in Switzerland, and last weekend the students of the Ecole community organized the school's annual Fasnacht celebrations.
Late last year, a number of journalists working for the Al Jazeera news network were arrested and imprisoned in Egypt. Then, last week, Al Jazeera launched a "global day of action" to encourage journalists around the world to condemn the arrests and show solidarity with the prisoners, and students in the Ecole's Middle Eastern Politics course decided to take part.
Last night allowed Ecole students and staff to take part in one of the most beloved events of the Winter Term: the Fackelabfahrt. To prepare for a skiing and snowboarding adventure that takes place after the sun has set, everyone grabbed a flaming torch and then stepped onto the piste for a downhill run in darkness with only fire to light the way.
Yesterday morning here at Ecole, waking up was music to our ears -- literally. We were woken up by music being played throughout our houses, which can only mean one thing: it's Ski Day! Once everyone jumped out of bed and made it down to the Esssaal for breakfast, you could feel the excitement in the air. Everyone was in a great mood and couldn't wait to put down their school bags and pick up their skis, and we all ran home after breakfast to get ready to hit the slopes.
Most of us here at the Ecole are very fond of taking a walk through the local woods to enjoy our spectacular mountain surroundings. But how do we connect the scenery on our doorstep with the content taught in our classrooms?
At the Ecole d’Humanité, our student body is currently even more energetic than usual thanks to the Winter Olympics just beginning in Sochi, Russia. However, the widespread appreciation of cultural and lifestyle diversity at the Ecole has left many students troubled by the attitudes towards minority groups recently on display in Russia. As a school community, then, how do we respond to conflicts between the things we’re interested in seeing or doing and the troubles we read about in the headlines of the daily news?
After some strong, warm winds that melted away much of the fresh snowfall we received over the last couple of days, this week’s Ski Day nearly didn’t take place. Thankfully, though, the weather gave us a lucky break — a morning of sunshine and a drop in the winds — and all of us at the Ecole were able to head up onto the mountain for our weekly dose of skiing, snowboarding, sledding, and winter hiking.
Winter term is definitely a highlight for all of our outdoor enthusiast Ecolianers. Skitouring classes offer the unique opportunity of exploring the Alps and enjoying the pleasure of skiing untouched powder. This term, we are offering three skitouring classes per week, with a maximum capacity of twelve participants per class.
Today was Ski Day at the Ecole d’Humanité — and, with fresh powder on the ground and bright sunshine overhead, the conditions were perfect for everyone to head up onto the Hasliberg to enjoy what the day had to offer. Some students signed into classes and activities led by skiing and snowboarding instructors, while others took to the piste independently to hone their existing abilities. As you can see from the visual materials here, I spent the morning hanging out with the beginners — often first-time skiers — on the practice piste at Bidmi.
Who hasn't heard about the amazing, crystal clear sound of Bulgarian choral singing? Last Thursday evening, Ecole students and staff had the opportunity to participate in a workshop with the Bulgarian choral singer Desislava Stefanova.
Skis, snowboards, and sleds were out in force today as everyone in the Ecole community took a gondola ride to the top of the Hasliberg for the first Ski Day of the Winter Term. One day a week for the next couple of months, all morning classes will be canceled so that all Ecole students and staff can make the most of the snow.
The latest issue of the school newsletter, The Ecolianer, went into the post last week and should be arriving in mailboxes right about now. The issue is dedicated to the memory of Armin Lüthi, who served as a director of the school for more than twenty years and died in September 2013.
The Ecole community gained a new member this week when Jane, one of our resident goats, gave birth to a female kid named Shmark. You can see her in the photo to the right, cradled by new student Bathshua.
A few days ago, while the rest of the student body was returning to the Ecole, I traveled to Geneva to meet with two of our students as they prepared to participate in the 2014 Ferney-Voltaire Model United Nations (FerMUN) conference. Darshbir Chahal and Kebir Gadio, both from the Ecole’s American Program, were selected as delegates representing the European Union in FerMUN’s G20 Committee and, as an additional honor, Darshbir was one of ten students selected to deliver a speech at the Opening Ceremony, introducing the Ecole d’Humanité to an audience of more than 650 participants in the Human Rights Room at the Palais des Nations.
Winter Term at the Ecole d’Humanité kicked off yesterday and today with new students introduced to the school community and with all students introduced, or reintroduced, to the ski slopes.
Fall Term came to an end today with an afternoon of packing up and cleaning rooms followed by an evening spent enjoying the Ecole’s annual Christmas Play.
With classes finished for the Fall Term and holiday time nearly upon us, today’s end-of-term assembly gave students a chance to share the things they have been learning about with the rest of the Ecole community.
As is traditional at the end of each trimester, the last Tuesday night of Fall Term was given over to a Music Evening featuring performances from more than a dozen Ecole students.
The Ecole’s Advent celebrations continued tonight with more special meals, more ‘Sing and Swing,’ and more storytelling.
A poem by Guillaume Apollinaire, one of the world's most celebrated Modernist writers, gave inspiration to this year’s French Theater production, Amours, performed over the last two nights at the Ecole d’Humanité.
There were countless slices of pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches consumed at the Ecole d'Humanité tonight, along with ice cream sundaes, chocolate brownies, gingerbread men, cookies, cups of hot cocoa, and much more, as members of the Ecole community came together to celebrate the arrival of a very special guest. Call him what you will — St. Nicholas or St. Nikolaus, Santa Claus or Father Christmas — but the man in the red suit showed up with his helpers to entertain Ecolianers as we enter the festive season.
Three special events tonight marked the beginning of the Ecole’s Advent celebrations, which will continue throughout the rest of December until the end of the Fall Term.
The Ecole Football Team spent this weekend in Lausanne, playing in a tournament of a dozen teams from international boarding schools throughout Switzerland. Although football training at the Ecole tends to be less formal than training for basketball tournaments, the Ecole team still improved on last year’s tournament result.
Students in the Ecole's American Program signed out from school dinner last night to celebrate Thanksgiving, one of the most important American national holidays.
Afternoons at the Ecole give students time for extracurricular activities. Although some students with important academic work to do may use part of this time for their studies — to prepare for the Swiss Matura or the AP exams — most Ecolianers spend their afternoons engaged in their choice of sports, arts and crafts, and musical and theatrical activities. So what sorts of afternoon activities have been on offer throughout this Fall Term?
For the past twelve weeks, the members of the Ecole Basketball Team have been training hard to prepare for the annual SGIS Basketball Tournament held this weekend in Leysin.
Skitouring classes give Ecole students an incredible opportunity to explore the Hasliberg and its surroundings during the winter time. Students head into the snow-covered back country, traversing a lot of ground with skis in an afternoon, skinning up the mountain and along valleys, and skiing down long runs of fresh, untouched powder.
Snow and mist made this year’s Parents’ Day a cold and wintry one, but there were plenty of indoor activities to give parents a warm welcome as they watched the Ecole in action.
Today was the ‘Heart’s Wishes’ day for the Fall Term. This morning, all Ecole students were given the opportunity to express their intellectual interests and make wishes for academic courses that they would like to take next term or at some stage in future.
Hikes are an integral part of the education provided by the Ecole d’Humanité, and all Ecole students participate in them regularly throughout the year.
After a successful senior year in the Ecole’s American Program, seniors from the Class of 2013 earned admissions to a number of illustrious colleges including Haverford, Smith, and Pitzer in the USA; to Oxford, Durham, Glasgow, and the School of Oriental and African Studies in the UK; and to the University of Basel in Switzerland.
The Ecole’s Advanced Placement (AP) results for 2013 continue our school’s impressive tradition of high marks on external exams. 63 AP exams were taken by our students last May. Under the AP scoring system, the highest possible score is a 5. As in most previous years, our students received more 5s than any other score.
Students in the Swiss Program at the Ecole d’Humanité study in an environment that gives them the skills they need to succeed when they leave here. As well as being able to learn English at a school where it is spoken as part of everyday life, they receive help to either prepare for the Swiss Matura exams or find a pathway into an apprenticeship.
The Ecole's climbing classes offer a fun physical and mental challenge to students. Besides becoming familiar with the technical curriculum of the class, they learn to be trustworthy and to trust their peers. Climbing is offered to students through the Ecole’s Outdoor Program, and it’s the second of four outdoor activities that we’ll take a closer look at with Michel Raab, our Outdoor Program Director and Risk Management Officer.
When Ecole students return to school after the long weekend each year, they all take part in the school’s annual Intensive Week. During Intensive Week, all academic classes are put on hold so that students can devote themselves full-time to arts, crafts, and skills-based projects which they complete over a period of four days.
Rope Rescue and Climbing Techniques is just one of the many activities offered through the Outdoor Program at the Ecole d’Humanité. These activities are typically among the most unique, diverse, exciting, and popular at our school. But what do they include and how does the Outdoor Program organize them with a focus on both skills instruction and safety?
Before Ecole students and staff head off to enjoy the annual long weekend, I’d like to call your attention to an article by Martin Kämpchen, published last week in the Calcutta broadsheet The Statesman. Kämpchen, an Ecole alumnus, recounts a visit he paid to the school and also spends time detailing its connections to the Santiniketan School in West Bengal, India.
Last Monday, nine students from the Ecole’s Global Studies class went on an excursion with one of their teachers, Alex, to visit the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva. Global Studies involves learning about geopolitics and globalization, and the ways in which transnational political institutions like the U.N. respond to affairs of global interest, such as human rights violations and the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
Last night’s Andacht was a treat for Ecolianers as they sat down to enjoy a spirited and energetic concert performed by our very own Dean of Students, Michael Schreier. In addition to overseeing student wellbeing at the Ecole, Michael contributes to the life of the Ecole community with a host of musical and theatrical talents.
Yesterday was not a typical school day for Ecole students. With the help of two professional health counselors from the clinic at Contact Interlaken, they all spent a day away from regular classes to learn about drugs and drug addiction.
Last night, everyone in the Ecole community spent some time preparing and then devouring a smorgasbord of tasty treats to celebrate our inugural Harvest Festival. The event was an initiative of the Ecole’s Ecoliteracy Program, which helps our students to appreciate and understand the ways in which we interact with the natural environment.
Thanks to the hard work of Theresa Bach and a team of dedicated student photographers, a photo gallery is now online featuring pictures from recent events at the Ecole. To enter the gallery, click here or click the "Gallery" link beneath "News" in the menu to the left, and take a browse through some of the Ecole's special activities as well as snapshots from everyday life.
Last week, five students taking Advanced Psychology at the Ecole organized a class excursion to the Webster University Counseling and Psychology Conference in Geneva. The excursion gave them a chance to listen to presentations from professional psychologists and engage with cutting-edge psychological research.
Students in the Ecole’s American Program met today with a representative from Franklin College, Lugano, in the first of a series of visits from college admissions officers as part of our school’s college advising process. As well as allowing our students to ask questions about what they can and should expect from life after they graduate in June 2014, this visit also gave students an opportunity to participate in practice interviews in order to prepare for the admissions process due to commence at the end of the year.
Yesterday was the annual Hasliberg Alp Day, where Ecole students and other community members go up the mountain to clean up one of the local alps. This year, about forty students and teachers met after breakfast to collect some lunch supplies before walking to the gondola station at Reuti and catching the gondola up to Magisalp. At Magisalp, everyone split up into groups of six, with one teacher in charge of each group, and quickly got to work.
Memories of Armin Lüthi and Natalie Lüthi-Peterson, longtime directors of the Ecole d’Humanité, were honored by the school community at last night’s Sunday Andacht. Armin and Natalie became joint leaders of the Ecole upon the death of the school’s founder, Paul Geheeb, in 1961. They spent the next thirty-four years overseeing its progress and expansion, and both of them continued to make indispensable contributions to the school community after retirement and right up until their deaths.
In this Four-Day Mountaineering Hike, ten students (Nattie, Mario, Bogdan, Murod, Helena, Jan, Julius, and Raphi), two helpers (Linda and Luca), one teacher (Michel), and one professional guide (Lucas) had the pleasure of heading up to the Trift glacier and exploring the surroundings of the area while staying at the Trift hut (2520m).
Last week at the Ecole, students were able to experience one of our school’s most important, exciting, and adventurous events: the Four-Day Hike. The purpose of the hike is to encourage students to experience the natural environment in a more concentrated and intense way than they do in their daily lives.
Last night’s full moon marked the Mid-Autumn Festival, an important date in the Chinese calendar, and just before dinnertime the Ecole’s Chinese students came together to celebrate the occasion. The Mid-Autumn Festival honors the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e, and at the Ecole it was observed this year by six returning students from Hong Kong and Guangzhou (Canton) and one new student from Taiwan.
With so many people living closely together on and around the Ecole campus, staff and students place great importance on maintaining the spirit of the community as a whole. On Friday afternoons, everyone in the community works together to help things run as smoothly as possible -- and yesterday afternoon gave us a chance to see community work in action for the first time this academic year.
With the Four-Day Hike possibly less than a week away, all Ecole students and staff broke up into more than a dozen small groups today to set off on a Test Hike in the local area. The purpose of the Test Hike is for hike leaders to see their hikers in action in order to assess group dynamics, hike equipment quality, and students’ abilities to move across terrain comparable to what they will encounter on the actual Four-Day Hike.
Following Wednesday’s opening school assembly and Friday’s Blueberry Hike, the Ecole community came together on Sunday night to enjoy the annual student talent show ahead of the first full week of classes.
Of all the longstanding traditions here at the Ecole d’Humanité, arguably the most delicious is our annual Blueberry Hike. Every September, at the start of the new school year, students gather in their Ecole families to head into the hills in search of fresh blueberries.
To mark the start of a new academic year here at the Ecole d’Humanité, staff and students gathered together today to meet and greet the latest members of the Ecole community.
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