15 Feb Reversal, valentines and wildly exciting lectures

Dear reader,

It's Friday again, and that means we're turning the week around here in the newsletter. It features love and war, friendship and competition. We turned the day into friendship day, we went to interesting and insightful lectures and then we are almost ready to start the new profile subjects.

First: a look back.

Culture and Family Day

On Sunday, the focus was on students and their cultural experiences. Families came to visit, stories were told and presentations were completed. The students in particular took it upon themselves to showcase their cultural journeys, and it was a great success. It is also a good exercise in reflecting on what you have experienced - here in the aftermath of your travels. What did I take home as a student and as a person? What made an impression? What would I like to pass on to people who have not experienced what I have? The students were very good at that. 

The students' cultural presentations are also an exercise in communicating their own experiences, thus giving the individual their own narrative.
It gives a strong personal narrative to have travelled to, for example, Nepal and trekked in the Himalayas at the age of 15-17. This story is listened to by others and it creates recognition and strengthens the student's self-esteem.

Valentines day

Valentines Day was celebrated in the ballroom with lots of romance and love in the air. Above is a form of blind date, where questions were asked over the wall to find the right valentines date. "Describe yourself as an animal" was one of the questions. 

Date night? No, a return day.

We turned the clock around. The teachers were convinced that the friendship day should be a turning day. So the programme was a little different on Thursday. As you can see in the picture at the top of the newsletter, the teachers were also a little confused about dressing for morning... evening assembly. Hopefully we won't have to get used (!) to morning exercise at 6pm, classes until 11pm and steak sandwiches for breakfast. Although that last one sounds tempting. 

And of course there were lots of friends visiting, taking part in the turnaround and the slightly atypical daily rhythm at the school. 

Pictures, videos, articles

We have now uploaded all photos, videos and articles to the facebook group. Of course, the warmest of recommendations is to drop by. There really are many great, authentic and honest experiences to explore. The students have produced some wildly good stories across the formats. Click on the image below to go straight to the photos, videos and articles. 

Lecture with Mikkel Storm

"Does war always make sense?" Sometimes, and for some it does, Mr Storm answers his own question. He is not talking about whether war is good or evil. He is talking about whether it can make sense, he emphasises. Mikkel Storm teaches at the Danish Defence Academy, and on Monday he gave a lecture on cybercrime and warfare. He also talked about why it is important that young people, like the ones here at the school, think carefully when they like, share and print openly.

Emil Thorup talked about creating (himself)

 In addition...

... we have workmen at the moment, and they are working hard to finish the new toilets in the Seminary House just by the Café. As soon as they are finished, they will be decorated with panoramic pictures from our recent travels. But that's not the only place where work is going on in the city. The lake at Ranum School is being drained. It looks set to be resurrected as a new gem in Ranum, where wildlife and great views will hopefully characterise the area.

Events next week

The school will be quiet for the next few days as it is a home weekend. The pupils are travelling home already on Thursday. Next week there will be a friends' day again, where the school is open to the pupils' friends from home. In addition, it will soon be time to start all the new exciting profile subjects. This is something that both teachers and pupils are looking forward to, and it will be a big part of the last third of the school year - both academically and socially. New subjects have emerged and old ones have been resurrected.

On Monday we will have a carnival party for the whole school. In the Seminary House, Lien, Ranumhus and Kærhuset, the students will dress up and go wild. As we reach the weekend, it's time to game. It's gamer weekend, and it's certainly something many of the students have been looking forward to. 

We wish everyone a very good weekend

Greetings all of us at

Ranum Efterskole College