Education Initiative Wins Award for “Selected Landmark 2011”

24.11.2011

The “Together We Are Strong” educational initiative for young people with learning disabilities won the award “Selected Landmark 2011” as part of the competition “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”. As part of the celebration, the principal of the Christophorus School of Freudenstadt, Waltraud Günther, graciously accepted the award from Armin Wissmann (Vice President of Deutsche Bank). A number of politicians, administrators and industry professionals were present for the awards ceremony.

For graduates of the local special education center, the search for a training program once felt like a hopeless endeavor. Under the leadership of Schmalz, six initiative companies came together to improve the situation for these young people. In 2006, the school began offering a training program for metal finishing engineers. Now, eight special education students in each class train for this profession as part of the cooperative education system. Together with our partners, we created training programs for the graduates of both special education centers in the region. We are proud to report that nearly all of the trainees have successfully passed their final exams.

The competition was sponsored by the location initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas” under the patronage of the German Federal President and in cooperation with the Deutsche Bank. The Christophorus School and its district-wide educational initiative competed against around 2,600 applications from different fields throughout Germany.

Currently, eight companies from the district are participating in the initiative: Arburg (Lossburg), Fischerwerke (Waldachtal), Homag (Schopfloch), Leuco (Horb), L’Orange (Glatten), Rexrodt-Bosch Group (Horb), Schmalz (Glatten) and Intra-Mechanik (Dornste­ten). Our other cooperation partners include the Chamber of Commerce, the District of Freudenstadt, the Heinrich Schickhardt School, the Federal Employment Agency, the Christophorus School of Freudenstadt and the Rossberg School of Horb.

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