Educational success: Juventus schools celebrate 100-year anniversary
100 years of education, 5 live acts and over 3,000 visitors: On Saturday, May 26, instead of learning, the Juventus schools celebrated exuberantly. The pioneers of the evening high school and the second educational path celebrated their 100th birthday with a political matinée, theater performances and live concerts.
Exactly one hundred years ago, a group of committed teachers joined forces with interested circles in Zurich to found a private day grammar school for young people and adults as the Juventus Teachers' Cooperative. Just two years after its founding, the Juventus schools were the first in Switzerland to offer an evening high school. Thus, for the first time, the Matura could also be obtained by adults on a part-time basis. Early on, the Juventus Schools took on a pioneering role in the educational landscape and paved the way for second-chance education for young people and adults. Today, this is an important part of the Swiss educational landscape.
Digitization as an opportunity
Juventus Schools is also setting new standards in terms of digitization in education: Since August 2017, classes have been held at the new education campus on Europaallee, right next to the tracks of Zurich's main train station. Therefore, not only the 100th birthday of the foundation is celebrated, but also the opening of the new school building. The "JuveCampus" has state-of-the-art equipment with the highest Minergie label and connects students around the clock from anywhere in the world directly to the electronic teaching materials, exercise modules and learning platform.
Politmatinée - Political Awareness and Engagement
"Of course, we demand a pronounced degree of personal responsibility from our learners," explains Matthias Rüegg, Director of Juventus Schools. In general education classes, the students have been working intensively with dedicated teachers on issues of democracy and political participation. In the second Politmatinée, they had the unique opportunity to put Swiss politicians on the spot with the claim, "Are politics letting our young people down?" For just under two hours, the politicians faced critical questions. In the arena were Paul Rechsteiner (SP), Claudio Zanetti (SVP), Hans-Peter Portmann (FDP), Barbara Schmid-Federer (CVP), Sibel Arslan (GPS), Markus Bischoff (AL) and Heinz Pantli as the original liberal voice of the New Helvetic Society. "Political debate is important to us because it strengthens the democratic coexistence of the generations," as Matthias Rüegg clarifies. "Young people should learn that they are a part of our political landscape, in which they should become active themselves after the training period." Indeed, the school on Europaallee accompanies around 2,000 learners each year in their education and training. Since its foundation, Juventus Schools has already trained tens of thousands of learners, and that is indeed a good reason to celebrate.
