A cooperation bears fruit: GEA and the kindergarten project

The special cube in the form of a separator bowl is ready and can now be diligently tried out. For this, the children of the Oelder Marienkindergarten had to do quite a bit together with the trainees of GEA: Making the round base on the lathe, engraving numbers and figures, and even blackening a small ball for the ball bearing with the torch. There is still a little time left before the break. "Shall we go to the milling machine again?" apprentice Liam Lutz (in photo, left) asks his little guest Arda. He answers in the affirmative with shining eyes.

Many of these and similar reactions from the participating children could be observed during the Stöbertage over the years. Bastian Bieler (on the right in the photo) and his colleague Manuel Achmedow (on the left) can understand this enthusiasm very well - after all, it was not without reason that they chose their apprenticeship as industrial mechanics and mechatronics engineers at GEA. Ten years ago, both of them were guests at GEA as kindergarten children themselves - and today they are allowed to guide interested youngsters through the training center as part of the Stöbertage project. A coincidence?

"Maybe it's coincidence," says Ralph Hackelbörger, training manager at GEA. "But we are sure that everything the children experience on this day will make them think. This early kind of scientific and technical education then ultimately whets their appetite for more - and possibly years later actually leads to an application to the participating companies, as is the case now with us," explains Ralph Hackelbörger. The project also has another positive effect: "We don't just see enthusiastic children here who are proud that they have made something practical with their own hands. Our trainees are also highly committed to the project," explains Ralph Hackelbörger. After all, they help shape the whole concept, prepare the day and the premises, and take responsibility for their little charges. "This sharpens their minds and also boosts their own self-confidence. For us, the whole project is definitely a successful model that we will continue in the coming years."