Hiking the Zugspitze See pages 16 and 17
erald Union H Vol. XV, No. 23
Wiesbaden: Your home in Germany
Aug. 29, 2013
Photo by Chrystal Smith
Photo by Karl Weisel
Darwin Ammons leads his first-grade class in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance on the first day of school at Aukamm Elementary School Aug. 26.
Crystal Simpson welcomes her new first-graders at Hainerberg Elementary School.
School start sees record number of students By Karl Weisel
U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden Public Affairs Office
W
iesbaden students should have plenty of people to make friends with this school year. “We are opening our doors to a full house of students this year,” said Aukamm Elementary School Principal Debbie Parks. Aukamm Elementary, like the other three Wiesbaden Department of Defense Dependents Schools saw a surge in enrollment with the start of 2013/2014 classes. “We are beginning the school year with approximately 230 students,” Parks added. “Wiesbaden Middle and Hainerberg Elementary schools have the highest student population levels in 10 years,” said Peter Witmer, U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden
school liaison officer. “Hainerberg Elementary has more than 900 students and Wiesbaden Middle School more than 500. The high school is also up with about 650 students starting school this year. “School officials anticipated that we would be growing and they prepared for that. That means additional teachers,” Witmer said. “They’ve done the groundwork to support the growing school population.” One advantage of the increased student populations is that there will be a bigger pool for student athletics and other extracurricular activities. “We are very excited about the start of the school year,” said Hainerberg Elementary School Principal Penelope Miller-Smith. “This is our year for accreditation and we’re looking forward to hosting the
Photo by Karl Weisel
Air Force Staff Sgt. Tyler Alexander interviews Wiesbaden High School Principal Sharon O’Donnell during a live remote broadcast as Siegfried Weber, American Forces Network-Wiesbaden technician, assists on the first day of school. accreditation team during the latter part of the school year … to show them the great things we do here thanks to the sup-
port of our parents, teachers and students.” Hainerberg Elementary’s senior administrator said
the school is well staffed to serve the growing student population with about 20 new teachers arriving from the Heidelberg area, Stuttgart and other DoD schools. Several local hire teachers and classroom renovations also greeted students with the start of school in Hainerberg. Hainerberg Elementary welcomes new Assistant Principal Gwendolyn B. Ziegler who arrives after serving with the Department of Defense Domestic Dependent and Elementary Schools Kentucky District in Fort Knox, Ky. “We had two classrooms renovated to meet the requirements for kindergarten,” Miller-Smith said, explaining that they now offer kitchens and bathrooms on the first See School start on page 11
Housing overwatch program to assist residents ... page 7