09 Sep Vilsted lake race, 25 suggestions for cultural and creative activities

Dear reader,

The students are getting ready for Denmark's most beautiful lake race - Vilsted Lake. The race starts on Saturday morning with a warm-up at 10.45 and so far there are more than 750 participants from Ranum Efterskole College alone. 

We're holding Family Weekend and everyone is invited to join in Friday to Saturday, and can join in the race for free. All participants who complete their race will receive the beautiful Vilsted Sø Løbet medal, which is unique for each year.

Friends weekend and lots of activity

It's been a really nice afterschool week and it's clear to see that the students have got more routine in being an afterschool student and away from home. Many students have now been at the school for 3 weeks and there is a great turnout for the many activities on the weekends, first we had the Water Sports Weekend, and last weekend we had the Friends Weekend where we had around 150 friends of the students visit, as well as this weekend which is the Family Weekend.

New Ranum Profilavis and company visit to Nordjyske for the Media Team

The media team was at Nordjyske Medier in Aalborg on Tuesday to attend the printing of our new profile newspaper. The students also got a tour of the big media house. The newspapers are now on their way to interested families in most of Denmark and both current and former students are helping to distribute them to friends, family and colleagues. If you would like a copy, we will be happy to send it, and if you would like more, we will send up to 10 copies.

See the newspaper here - Will you distribute some in your area? Order a package here.

Waterperformance and coastal lifesaving course

The students at waterperformance all have a course in SUP boarding and they learn how to save lives and avoid accidents at the water. There is time for fun and seriousness, and luckily the water is not that cold yet. In a few weeks, the whole team will travel to Portugal to wakeboard, wave surf and experience the culture along the Atlantic coast.

Adventure on Vildsted lake

Denmark's most beautiful lake provided the setting for both a dip and a kayak ride for the Adventure team.

Community gathering with concert

It's great that students from the music team will both give concerts and perform solo. We sing together a lot, but there's also room to enjoy a student's performance in the ballroom.

25 proposals for Cultural Studies and exciting democratic process.

Students and teachers have been working over the last few weeks to shape new and familiar Cultural Subjects. A cultural subject focuses on the culture, society, history, language and everyday life of a country or continent. It can be combined with an interest subject such as Adventure, Surf, Diving or Dance and Music. And through shared interests, students meet young people on a journey to a foreign country. At ranum, students can help shape new subjects, and strong communities of interest are formed through a democratic process. Initially, all pupils gathered in the large sports hall for a Cultural Subjects Brainstorm and Open Workshop. Here, 4 new cultural subjects emerged and previous cultural subjects were relaunched:

Australia, Animal Welfare with trip to Namibia, Brazil Rio, Cuba, Europe Roadtrip, Philippines Diving, Jamaica, Japan, China Beijing, China Kong Fu, Malaysia Friendship School, Nepal Friendship School, Nepal Culture trek, Nepal Himalaya Trek, New Zealand, Oman Middle Eastern Desert Culture, Peru Culture and school visit, South Africa - Cape Town and Apartheid, USA Roadtrip - and Higschool exchange, USA California Highschool Exchange, USA Miami - American way of life, USA Virgin Island, and finally Wintersport Norden. There is plenty to choose from and much to consider. It is part of the educational process to prioritise, set goals and make choices so that the goal is achieved.

Over the last few weeks, teachers and students have been presenting their Cultural Studies ideas to all students at assemblies, and this weekend we will vote on which Cultural Studies will be on the final ballot. We have compiled an overview of the many cultural subjects in a magazine. It's not quite final, but look at this this. 

Parents and pupils will be able to hear the many ideas and ask questions on Saturday afternoon, and then the final vote on the new subjects will start next weekend, when pupils will be home for the long weekend and won't be back until Monday after 6pm.

In the coming week

In the coming week, all the profile subjects will be back in action and the academic programmes will run for 4 weeks as a whole. The week has Sustainability as its overarching theme, so we are focusing on how we can live more sustainably and perhaps save power at the same time, look after resources better in everyday life, and how sustainability and climate change are a common agenda across most of the world.

The students of the 10th grade will again be in bridge building on Thursday and there is very good feedback on the many exciting courses and on the great event we held in the SKILLS competition, watch the video here.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us and will be reporting from the Family Weekend and the Vilsted Søløbet at the beginning of the week.

Remember that we are holding an Open House on 25 September and you are all welcome to drop by from 10am to 5pm. We offer an International breakfast buffet and the students will tell you about after school life, profile subjects, cultural subjects and the academic programmes. Tell your friends, colleagues and neighbours. See you soon!

Best regards and have a nice weekend

Olav Storm Johannsen
Principal