“All good things come in threes,” said Voss in his welcoming remarks. “The fourth part comes in the future when the former American Club is finished,” he said.

Twenty years ago, the American elementary school, high school and the British high school were combined to make Bonn International School. Costs to build the school have so far totaled 8.5 million euro. Three sponsors have contributed the largest amount of funding: the BMZ, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, and the NRW Ministry of Building, Housing, Urban Development and Transport. The school contributed 1.5 million euro.

Between the colorfully striped Waves main building on Martin-Luther-King-Straße and the classic Agora building which was added in 2012, one can now see “The Crest”, in the same colors as the Waves building. “The new space gives us great opportunity for innovative teaching and learning,” said school director Patricia Baier. Friedrich Kitschelt from BMZ praised BIS as “a kind of melting pot.” “Here is where students from 76 nations learn how globalization works,” he said. “BIS is a pillar of the international city of Bonn,” he expressed.

Student speaker Andrea was happy about the new study room, “Here, we can prepare for our classes intensively and without disruption.” As a part of the expansion process, the cafeteria was also expanded to contain 200 spaces. Celebrations were to take place there in the evening in honor of the new opening. “The Crest” building project took one year to complete.

(rig. text: Michael Wenzel)