“Now the time has come, and for you, too, the beautiful life of idleness begins,” was how principal Doris Schulte-Schwering began the farewell speech for Jeanette Elfers, who worked at BBS Alice Salomon for 22 years.
Ms. Elfers originally trained to teach music and geography at grammar schools. After a few detours, she finally ended up at a vocational school, and in her 22 years at our school, she had the wonderful and important task of training future educators.
The musical that she and her colleague Mona Lehnberg rehearsed with the teachers year after year was legendary, a huge project that grew year after year and each musical was more beautiful than the next. The first performances were in the gymnasium, then in a hall in Leubsdorf, and then it was off to the city hall in Linz. The musical was a unique selling point of our school and the motivation for many pupils to enrol with us. There were five performances per year and the radius of the surrounding area was large. The pupils experienced extraordinary personal development in this project and cohesion in the classes was promoted. Important topics were addressed with the musical: e.g. climate change, children’s rights and peace. In 2014, Ms. Elfers became head of music at the Neuwied teacher training college. She trained trainee teachers throughout the state for 11 years.
“Dear Jeanette, I would like to thank you for the great work you have done for our school. You know how important music has always been to me personally at our school. And I enjoyed your many performances at the Open Day. On behalf of the whole school community, I wish you all the best for your retirement,” said Doris Schulte-Schwering.