Tenth graders from Sonneberg take responsibility for the hiking day!

Tenth graders from Sonneberg take responsibility for the hiking day!

What's going on in Sonneberg? On November 6, 2025, the tenth graders at the Sonneberg Community School organized an exciting hiking day for their younger classmates. On this project day, in bright sunshine, the students from the lower grades were not only able to explore their environment, but also learn a lot about team spirit and responsibility.

The older students took responsibility for three younger students each without any teachers. They had to clarify tasks such as choosing a route, scheduling and safety issues. Such experiences promote courage and self-confidence, which is essential for young people's personal development. How insuedthueringen.de reported, the goal of the project day was to show how important collaboration and leading a group are.

Diverse nature explorations

The younger students had the opportunity to explore various destinations: Classes 5/1 and 6/2 visited the mill pond in Neuhaus-Schierschnitz, while class 6/3 discovered a pond in Mogger. Class 5/2 was also active by exploring the ponds in Bettelhecken and Mürschnitz. The highlight of the day was the hike to the Scheibe-Alsbach drinking water dam for class 6/1.

The seventh graders were introduced to the topic of flood protection along the Steinach and the eighth graders visited the reservoir near Bachfeld. The ninth graders went to the pumped storage plant in Goldisthal. These explorations not only provided exercise, but also exciting nature experiences and knowledge transfer.

Education as a lifelong process

This student commitment is also part of the educational philosophy, which states that education is more than just the acquisition of knowledge. Education is understood as a process of personal and cultural maturation that unites the individual with society, such as Wikipedia explained. It's not just about competence, but also about the harmonization of mind, heart and identity.

Classroom design in community schools could benefit from these concepts by encouraging students to not only acquire specialist knowledge but also develop their social skills. Such an approach could prepare students to become responsible citizens who actively participate in their community.

Overall, the walking day was a great success, teaching students valuable lessons about teamwork, responsibility and personal development. It becomes clear here that such projects go far beyond everyday school life and make an important contribution to holistic education.