Why Osterburken?

The German Embassy in Ulan Bator was not alone wondering why a big project like International Award Summer School should take place in a small town like Osterburken with altogether just a little bit more than 6000 inhabitants. People from throughout Germany who are new to the Award ask this same question again and again, as most of the German Leaders Courses take place in this 2000 years old Roman town. For example, to date 20 of a total of 57 Basic Leaders Courses, seven of 23 Expedition Courses and four of seven Award Officers Courses were held here.

The explanation might be a combination of the following seven special features:

1. Osterburken hosts the German Award’s National Educational Institution “Alte Bahnmeisterei” including

   1. Award Library (incl. German and international collection of Award Materials)

   2. Communal bunks, kitchen & showers

   3. Data projector, laptops, LAN and Internet access

   4. Expeditions and outdoor games equipment

   5. Flipchart, overheads and pin boards

   6. Lawn – suitable for games, seminar groups and tents

   7. Maps collection

   8. Photo & Press Archive

   9. Photocopier

   10. …

2. There is an equally capable Award infrastructure in Osterburken and the Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis – the district Osterburken belongs to. The Award has been in Osterburken since 1993, and the town with its nearly two thousand students is the oldest and still one of the biggest Operating Authorities in Germany. Moreover, in 2006 the Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis became the first “Model District” of the German Award with the District Governor as its patron. The local and regional Award has been running youth exchanges since 1994. Hence there are not only experienced trainers and host families ready to help with every single course, but also Award participants on all levels, allowing us to use “Learning by doing” as our most important seminar method.

3. From Osterburken’s schools, Realschule (but also Gymnasium, where the 1st German award Leaders Gathering was held in 2000) is closest to Alte Bahnmeisterei and can easily be used for special seminar sessions, e.g. concerning IT topics in the Workshop part of IASS 2009. Both schools’ janitors are Award leaders and Wild Country Assessors!

4. Klaus, after 15 years still the German Award’s main trainer, is a teacher at Realschule (and just volunteering as a National Award Director!). This means that for weekend courses in Osterburken, no school lessons have to be dropped – in just five minutes he walks from one place to the other.

5. When Osterburken became a rural “Students Town” some 30 years ago, it was actually chosen because of its excellent transport connections. The railway tracks Stuttgart—Lauda and Heidelberg—Würzburg converge here, and the next motorway junction (A 81) is only 5 km away.

6. Osterburken is situated in the midst of the rural “Bauland” area, where dozens of practise expeditions and expeditions take place all the year round; the Wild Country Area “Odenwald” is very close, too. Because groups can start their tours directly from “Alte Bahnmeisterei”, Mini Expeditions (Award Leaders Course) and Training Expeditions (Expedition Course) can be done without any time loss. Also, there is a big cottage close to Osterburken which can also be used as an expedition training base camp.

7. Because the German Award can use Alte Bahnmeisterei for free (please look at “Alte Bahnmeisterei” for more details about this) and has even gained some means for supporting courses run there, there is no fee to be paid for courses in “Alte Bahnmeisterei”. Also, because Osterburken is very rural, hotel rooms are not so expensive.