European exchange: Christelijk College Schaersvoorde meets Mariengymnasium

In the spirit of European understanding, pupils from Mariengymnasium Bocholt and the Dutch Christelijk College Schaersvoorde met for the first time on 20 January. Around 150 young people took part in the joint project day, which was organised in cooperation with EUROPE DIRECT and the city of Bocholt.

The meeting marks the start of a new cross-border school partnership and emphasises the profile of Mariengymnasium as a European school.

Last Tuesday, the city of Bocholt welcomed a large group of young guests from neighbouring Aalten. More than 90 pupils from the Christelijk College Schaersvoorde made the journey to Bocholt by bike, sending out a clear signal for neighbourly relations and sustainable mobility in the border region. Together with the young people from year 9 of the Mariengymnasium, they spent a day dedicated to intercultural dialogue.

The organising team attached great importance to mixed German-Dutch groups in order to promote the cross-border aspect and language skills. The young people worked on various programme items. In the Bocholt Textile Museum, they learnt about the region's industrial history in workshops, while a city rally through Bocholt promoted intercultural exchange, teamwork and getting to know the city in a fun way.

At the official welcome, Mayor Christian Mangen expressly praised the commitment of the participating schools and partners to European educational work and emphasised the importance of such encounters for a living Europe.

Headmistress Ruth Sonntag even welcomed the guests from the Netherlands in Dutch, emphasising the special bond in the border region. Mrs Hendrixen from Schaersvoorde Aalten was already looking forward to the return visit in March, when the exchange will continue in the Netherlands.

The project "Initiation of a Dutch-German school partnership" is made possible by the Interreg programme Germany-Nederland and its programme partners and is co-financed by the European Union (EU).