Conservation owl from Bad Freienwalde lands at Gauss High School

At the Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Gymnasium in Frankfurt (Oder) was on April 24, 2023 a project day entirely under the sign of the theme of herbs: students of the 7th and 8th grade were in action to plant new seedlings and sow seeds in the herb bed in the schoolyard. From parsley to dill, chives, thyme, sage to marigold or various mints, plants and seeds were brought into the bed.

In a second part was cooked together with collected wild herbs. On the menu were homemade wild herb salad, herb butter and herb curd and apple nettle juice. The day was concluded by a lecture on the culinary and medicinal use of the plants brought into the bed.

The project day was organized and carried out by the House of Nature Care from Bad Freienwalde, the founding site of the Nature Care Owl. Agraringenieurin Kerstin Götter took over here the environmental and experience-educational line. It was supported by Max B. Regenberg, former pupil of the Gauss High School and deputy chairman of the house of the nature care registered association.

Aspects such as regionality, ecology and fair trade played just as much a role as healthy nutrition, the balance between physical and mental stress, an inner sense of self (value), pressure and stress management in everyday life or the exchange and shared experience in the group. Thus, this project day took place within the framework of "Catching up after Corona in Brandenburg", a program of the state government, which is to specifically promote the social skills of the students after the distance learning during the Corona containment measures.

The bed and its herbs are for the Gauss High School both lived ecological horticulture and nature and insect conservation as well as a means to the end of knowledge acquisition and its application: The connection of different school disciplines from biology to chemistry to history lessons is deliberately drawn and corresponds to the teaching approach of the Gauss-Gymnasium as one of two special schools for mathematics and science in the state of Brandenburg.

The Gauss Gymnasium was the first school in Brandenburg outside the state capital Potsdam to receive the title of "Environmental School in Europe - International Sustainability School" last school year.

As a symbol of cooperation and to clearly designate the bed as an area worth protecting and preserving in the schoolyard, Max B. Regenberg handed over a handmade sign of the nature conservation owl on behalf of the House of Nature Conservation. Thus, an entire school generation remains aware of the daily responsibility for the human and natural environment.