Walberberg Youth Academy

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The Walberberg Youth Academy is an independent, extracurricular youth training facility in the Archdiocese of Cologne . It is located between Cologne and Bonn in Bornheim - Walberberg at the height of the foothills . The youth academy is run by an independent association made up of 60 individuals and a representative of the Association of Catholic Youth (BDKJ), the Cologne Diocesan Association. The Walberberg Youth Academy was founded in 1964.

history

The initiative to found this educational center came from the Dominican women's community and the then rain in the Dominican monastery of St. Albert , Stephan Pfürtner . The Cologne grammar school and foundation fund provided a plot of land on a long lease basis. The architects were Felix Stalder and Harald Schmuck, who received the sponsorship award of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for young artists in the field of architecture for their design for the academy .

On July 17, 1964, the foundation stone was laid for the building of the Walberberg Youth Academy, which was made possible by financial support from the federal government , the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , the Archdiocese of Cologne and private donors. The new educational facility was opened in 1965 as a facility with its own seminar program. The first team consisted of the director of the youth academy, Alex Groß, the manager and consultant Christa Fußhöller and the theological education consultant Father Anatol Feid .

After the Dominican women's community withdrew from the project, the sponsoring association “Jugendakademie Walberberg eV” was founded in 1973, which was recognized as a sponsor of free youth welfare . As a result of an amendment to the statutes, the Archdiocese of Cologne was represented on the board by an appointed representative from 1975 and participated in the financing of the house.

In the early 1990s, the need for extensive renovation work became clear. In 1995 the Archdiocese of Cologne decided not to participate financially in the necessary renovations. Closing the house was up for debate and split the sponsoring association. Some of them finally dared, together with Reinhard Griep, who had succeeded Alex Groß in the direction of the youth academy in 1992, to renovate on the basis of a grant from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, private loans and donations. The "Förderverein Jugendakademie Walberberg eV" was founded to support this.

In 2004, the Archdiocese of Cologne announced the final discontinuation of the flat-rate subsidy for operating costs for 2007. This again put the existence of the youth academy into question. However, the employees, friends and sponsors of the educational institution did not want to give up. In 2005, the general assembly of the sponsoring association decided on a comprehensive package of measures (including salary cuts) to ensure the youth academy financially beyond 2007, even without diocesan funds.

The work of the youth academy could be continued. Every year over 5000 young people take part in around 200 seminars and events. After the renovation and expansion (“Europahaus” with additional rooms) the youth academy with 90 beds and several group rooms can now accommodate up to four smaller groups at the same time. In 2011, the Walberberg youth academy took second place in the award ceremony for the environmental protection award of the city of Bornheim . On September 6th, 2014 the anniversary celebration “50 Years of the Youth Academy” took place.

Main topics and forms of work

The educational work of the youth academy sees itself as a contribution to the identity formation of young people. It relates to social, political, religious, intercultural and gender-related aspects of human coexistence. The work of the youth academy received important impulses from the Second Vatican Council , the emancipatory awakenings at the end of the 1960s and the social movements of the 1970s and 1980s. The focus was and is the striving for a just world and, since the 1980s, also the liberation-theologically founded concern of an option for the poor .

The youth academy cooperates with different schools and social work institutions and thus combines formal and non-formal learning. The association Jugendakademie Walberberg eV employs over 25 full-time employees. Approx. 20 fee lecturers work as course instructors in the seminars of the youth academy.

The educational work includes the following focuses:

  • School seminars with a special focus on working with disadvantaged young people from special schools and secondary schools
  • Religious education
  • European Voluntary Service
  • Career orientation
  • International encounters
  • Specialist conferences and training courses
  • Rope course and climbing wall
  • In addition, the youth academy is available as a shelter for guest groups of up to 90 people.

Right from the start, the specialist conferences were also geared towards target groups in neighboring countries and were therefore promoted accordingly. Examples are: 1968 International Conference: “Youth - Conflict and Aggression in Society”, 1977 First “Chile Seminar” and building solidarity with the exiled Chileans and Latin Americans, 1985 “After school - unemployed”, 2009 “World of experience Right-wing extremism ”. The Easter seminar of the Walberberg youth academy meets with particularly great interest every year.

International work began in the early 1970s. The main topics of the seminars were the pedagogy of Paulo Freire , the solidarity work on Chile and in connection with Oscar Romero . The meeting seminars with partners from Spain and France were supplemented by German-Dutch seminars. On the occasion of one of these seminars, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Prince Claus visited the Walberberg Youth Academy on their first post-war state visit to Germany in 1982 .

Little by little, the youth exchanges were expanded, u. a. to Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Ireland and Bosnia as well as between East and West Germany. In 1997, the youth academy became a partner of Youth for Europe and carried out accompanying seminars on its behalf in the European Voluntary Service .

The youth academy is a member of the Working Group of Catholic Social Educational Institutions (AKSB), the “ Paulo Freire Society ”, the “Kath. Federal Working Group for Medium-Term International Social Voluntary Services "(BAG) and the" State Working Group for Girls' Work NRW eV "Since the beginning of 2012, the youth academy has been involved in the Ewoca³ project together with its network partners CEMEA del Mezzogiorno onlus (Italy) and Putevi mira (Bosnia and Herzegovina) ( www.ewoca.org).

Publications

  • Jugendakademie Walberberg (ed.): The educational concept. Seminars with teenagers and young adults in school. Education and profession. Bonn 1994.
  • Seasonal publication of the Walberberg Youth Academy: "Cross Section"

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jugendakademie.de
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jugendakademie.de
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jugendakademie.de
  4. ↑ Jugendakademie Walberberg (ed.): The educational concept. Seminars with teenagers and young adults in school. Education and job, Bonn 1994
  5. ↑ for the years 2002 to 2012 online in pdf format, e.g. B. for the year 2002: Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jugendakademie.de