With a study about the use of wastewater as an alternative energy source, eight students of grades eight through twelve at Essen-Holsterhausen High School won the first prize in the FOCUS competition “Schools Shaping the Future 2007”. The second prize went to Richard Wossidlo High School in Waren, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania where five high school seniors had developed several environmentally friendly traffic routing scenarios for their hometown. Twelve high school seniors from Schiller High School in Münster received the third prize for a film project about Polish and Namibian students in Namibia.

The prizes were presented in a ceremony in Berlin on Tuesday. Guests included many representatives of politics and the business world. FOCUS Editor-in-Chief Uli Baur explained: “This FOCUS initiative promotes much more than a transfer of knowledge: It encourages young people to think innovatively, act responsibly and to get professional orientation.”

Jürgen Zöllner, President of the Standing Conference of the State Ministers of Education in Germany, honored the young laureates: “Your success confirms my strong belief that schools – and especially those cooperating with external partners – accomplish much more than many people think.”

1,500 students participated in the competition, with entries ranging from projects in natural sciences, research, environment, technology and business to fine arts, humanities, information and communications. Besides the three main prizes, there were six special prizes.

“Schools Shaping the Future” promotes the dialogue between schools and the business world. It is an initiative of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), publishing house Cornelsen, the Federal Association of Teachers in Germany, the German Association of Research and Technology Oriented Clubs (DVT), the ING-DiBa bank, the Foundation Industrial Research, the Association of German Engineers (VDI), and the Association Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Information Technology (VDE). Further sponsors are the German Environmental Foundation and the German Physics Association.

Submissions are already accepted for the 2008 competition run under the motto “Climate Protection! What can we do?”. The project has the patronage of the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel.