Projects
Our aim is to give our students the best possible preparation for their life after school and to increase their chances of getting the jobs they want. Therefore we offer a variety of different projects and encourage students to participate actively.
Eat fresh at Adam-Josef-Cüppers
Successful learning and healthy nutrition belong together. Therefore AJC is taking part in a nationwide project called “Healthy School”. In this context, AJC opened its canteen in 2009 and since then it has become very popular among staff and students. Not only do quality and price seem in a more than reasonable relation, but the canteen has become one of the most important meeting points for small talk.
What is more, meals are cooked by our students with the guidance and assistance of their qualified teachers, Mrs Dey and Mr Körner. Freshness and variety of ingredients are always guaranteed. For all meals you can choose a side salad and a desert. Table water is offered for free. Here is an example:
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| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |
| Meal 1 | Bruschetta, | Pasta casserole with | Steamed chicken, pasta with herb sauce | Lasagne |
| Meal 2 (vegetarian) | Bruschetta, | Pasta-vegetable-casserole | Pasta with ragout of vegetables and herbs | Lasagne with vegetables |
| Salad | Buffet | Buffet | Buffet | Buffet |
| Dessert | Tiramisu | Lime mousse on fig compote with cantuccini | Capuccino cream | Panna cotta on berry sauce |
The lunchroom was completely re-decorated so it has a bright and inviting atmosphere. Mrs Dey, Mr Körner and their students even manage to carefully decorate the tables with little extras according to the season. (Author´s note: I really liked your Halloween decoration – Jack-o´-lanterns filled with autumn flowers)
Project: Adopt a little sister or brother
Education and integration is the topic of this important project which started in 2010. As it is widely known many students with a migratory background still don´t have equal chances in our school system. To change this students at AJC “adopt” a primary school pupil for one year. The idea is to help children with their homework, their problems at school, at home or with friends. One major goal is of course to help them improve language skills – but also to have fun and to be a real friend.
The “big brothers and sisters” benefit from this special relationship by developing a sense of responsibility, enhancing their social competence and learning more about the learning process which is again beneficial for their own school career.
The bottom line is – most big brothers and sister do it because they love their job: “I couldn´t leave “my” little one alone with all those new impressions and troubles she has to face at school every day. I have to help her. She´s so small – she needs help and a chance,” says Suzan. “After all she could be my little sister.”
A dog´s life
The staff at AJC has got a new member: Dora, the three-year-old German Shepard Dog, is the new partner of Mrs Meinert, one of our social workers, and supports her in her work with her students. Since scientific research has proven the positive influence of animals in school situationsAJC decided to make the attempt to “hire” Dora.
Dora has a very soothing character and is able to calm students down when excitement is high and on the other hand encourages students to talk about their worries and problems when they find it hard to talk.
Needless to say that Dora meets the hygienic and medical requirements for her work at school. Students and teachers appreciate her presence likewise. And Dora? Far from being a nerd, she likes going to school.
With Leonardo da Vinci at our partner school in Norway
This autumn three graduates of our two-year Technical High School Department have taken the opportunity to do a practical training at our partner school 
in Moss, Norway within the framework of a LEONARDO DA VINCI - Mobility Project.
From October to December 2009 they will spend eight weeks at our partner school, where our Norwegian partners will train and coach them professionally as well as take care of them warmly.
The Malakoff videregående skole (Malakoff Upper Secondary School) is located in the city of Moss, which is situated directly on the shores of the Oslo fjord, about 60 km south of Norway's capital Oslo. The school has several large workshops, which are all very well equipped.
All three trainees have the aim to study at a technical university of applied sciences for mechanical engineering in the near future. In Moss they find optimal conditions to acquire the necessary field-practical knowledge which is prescribed for the approval of the vocational part of the Advanced Technical College Certificate and the admission to studies. They will work in the school workshops and in local companies, which cooperate with our partner school.
Oriented towards the technical focus of their education course at our Technical High School Department, the metal, machinery and automation technology, almost all practical aspects that are relevant for a study of mechanical engineering are covered.
The training content is based strictly on the requirements of the respective universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia. Teachers of both schools intensively collaborate in order to organize the internship and to provide expert advice to the trainees.
Besides the acquisition of the specialised practical know-ledge, this internship offers for each of the participants the great opportunity to develop their language skills essentially. The project language is English, but all partners hope that the three participants will become able to say some sentences in Norwegian, at the latest in December.
In addition, the trainees build up cross-cultural competences during their stay abroad dealing with their Norwegian instructors and vocational schoolmates. These competences can be a great benefit for them in the future, both in their professional and private life.
Summing up the concrete main purpose of the placement abroad, the point is to make each of the trainees fit for the European labour market.
Therefore, the cooperation between our schools has been approved by the Federal Institute of Vocational Education (Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung – NA-BIBB ) in Bonn as a LEONARDO DA VINCI Mobility Project and consequently the practical training is financially promoted within the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union.
After the training period in Norway every trainee should receive a europass mobility in which the stay abroad is documented for the participant as well as for potential future employers.
Important links
to the Malakoff videregående skole (Malakoff Upper Secondary School):
| to the Federal Institute of Vocational Education (Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung - NA-BIBB) Leonardo DA VINCI | to the website of europass Mobility (Germany) | to the Lifelong Learning Programme |
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Open Day
Once a year we open our doors for potential students and their parents who would like to inform themselves about our college. On January 24th 2009, we had our annual Open Day and future students had a chance to talk to teachers in order to find the right qualification for their career plans. The title was “Build your future – come to AJC-BK”. Hundreds of visitors could be welcomed and informed themselves about the advantages of Adam-Josef-Cüppers Vocational College.
Girls´ Day
Our College participates in a nationwide project to support girls who are interested in getting a traditionally “male” job or education. Once a year, in spring, the Ministry of Education and Family as well as many other authorities and business companies work together to organize a Girls´ Day. Girls from all types of schools (classes 5 to 10) are invited to go to lectures, visit labs, talk to students and teachers about jobs and programmes and find out if one of these might just be what they have been looking for.
Adam´s got talent - AJC-BK students rock the house
On June 25th 2009 we presented our third star search contest. Students with a talent for singing, dancing, beat boxing or whatever it may were encouraged to participate. Apart from a lot of fun there were prizes for the classes. The winner was Karl Reimann from SFS 1a. He played the guitar and presented a song which he had composed by himself. Congratulations!
Project business@school of Boston Consulting Group
Our team has just won the second prize in the region. Congratulations!
The aim of this project is to create a learning environment in which students can organize their own learning process. The project includes three steps, each step ending with a presentation of the results, a discussion as well as feedback from the jury.
First, students collect information to understand how a small business or a global player works. As a second step students find out what it takes to make a business idea work. Finally, students work in groups to develop their own business ideas, set up concepts and write down detailed business plans. They submit their work to an international competition. Apart from a certificate (which makes your application definitely look good) there are prizes for the best business ideas.
One School. One Book.
In fall 2007 students and teachers of our college shared an unusual experience: the whole school read the same book at the same time and got the chance to visit lectures and discussion groups all connected to the content. The idea behind this far reaching project was to support the activity of reading as well as creating an event which sparked a community spirit.
The book was called "Der Schwarm" by Frank Schätzing. It deals with the climate change, without doubt one of the most urgent problems mankind has to deal with today.
Teachers of different subjects were invited to talk about the climate change in their classes to support the event, to give students a chance to gather information and to find answers to the questions the book evokes.
On November 30, 2007, the project received an award by the Landesinitiative of North Rhine-Westphalia whose patron is Jürgen Rüttgers, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. The project earned the award for its discussion of sustainability and for bringing the idea of climate protection closer to students. The award was handed over at the State Chancellery in Düsseldorf.
Oral-history workshop
In November 2006, a group of students from the technical division of our college has dared to face the difficult past we Germans have: in a workshop which lasted seven days they worked together with Polish students to understand what happened in the years between 1933 and 1945 during the Nazi regime. Our students listened to eye witnesses who reported about their experiences. The workshop included a tour to Auschwitz.
Adam Josef Cüppers meets Comenius 'Useful-or-useless - it's your choice'
In the school year 2006/07 our college has started to put an extensive and, at the same time, ambitious project into practice. This project dealing with recycling - called 'Useful-or-useless - it's your choice' - is an essential part of Socrates Comenius programme. It is going to be realized for a three years' period in close cooperation with schools from Belgium, England, Norway and Poland. The common aim we want to achieve is to make others aware of environmental issues.
In the first year the problem of waste in terms of recycling is going to be discussed and dealt with. In the second year we are going to put our main emphasis on the ways of coping with the waste problem itself. Topics will be e.g. regaining materials, facing the problem of waste at school, at home and among the local community. In the last year we are planning to create an art work from recycled materials. Another goal is to get to know more about the countries taking part in the project and their residents. In order to achieve this we are going to:
- create a website (already realised by 4 students of our ITA3a/b)
- write reports
- accomplish scientific researches
- prepare and accomplish presentations
- use specialist vocabulary
- cooperate with local authorities
- organize a debate with the local community
- learn how to cope with environmental problems in every day life
- create a sculpture from recycled materials
- promote our achievements
Besides, we intend to promote inter-subject learning and teaching. Teachers will exchange their experience and get inspiration and ideas from other countries' colleagues. The first step on that score was the visit of our partner school Liceum Ogólnoksztalcace T. Kosciuszki in Jaworzno/Poland from 6 November to 10 November 2006. Our hosts in Jaworzno welcomed us cordially. There we met teachers and students from all our partner schools. During this week we learnt something about open classes, activities to get integrated and a debate about ecological issues.
Other actions are going to include:
- a competition for a suitable logo of the project
- writing a report about controlling the waste problem
- a research about the 'history of waste' in the last 50 years
- making lists of specialist vocabulary
- visiting a recycling company or a landfill site
- an exhibition presenting our achievements from the first year of the project
In April 2007, the project group met again in Dilsen, Belgium, in order to find out how waste is handled in different countries.
The next meeting place was Reading, England, in November 2007. The task was to design a product from recycled materials. The group agreed on creating a candlestick including candle and decoration.
In April 2008, the group came together in Moss, Norway, to actually produce the candlesticks.
In November 2008, Adam-Josef-Cüppers Vocational College welcomed the members of the project group in Ratingen.
Education adventure outdoors: Canoeing
In 2001, AJC-BK teacher Stefan Nierfeld first took students on a different kind of field trip: canoeing. Since then 28 classes have taken this trip, meaning more than 500 students. What started as a field trip has become a solid part of the educational concept of the College. For one day students exchange the classroom desk for a seat in an open canoe. For a whole day students in groups of three or four have to steer their canoes down the river Ruhr from Hattingen to Essen. After 15 kilometres (approx. 10 miles) they reach their destination and have a barbecue on the shore. Students enjoy the trip as it strengthens the sense of community within their class. It also makes them give their best and so they come back with a lot of motivation. Recently, these findings were confirmed by a scientific study of the University of Wuppertal.
