ALEA SCHOOL is growing and thriving: At the start of summer break and six weeks before the first day of school at ALEA, school board member Henning Strauss, Principal Pauline Ponti, Pepperdine President & CEO Jim Gash, and Minister of Education Armin Schwarz (CDU) officially opened the recently completed Lindenallee campus. Together with the two founding classes and their parents, ALEA SCHOOL faculty celebrated a casual opening BBQ featuring California specialties. After the symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony, Principal Pauline Ponti gave the forty students a tour of their new classrooms and the entire school building.

Another milestone for ALEA SCHOOL: The Lindenallee campus is now complete. At the start of the summer break in Hesse it was officially opened. The ceremony was also attended by Armin Schwarz, Hesse’s Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs, who had already familiarized himself with the concept of the new international school during a visit to Bad Orb in January. In his opening remarks, the enthusiastic advocate of transatlantic relations expressed his admiration for the international spirit of ALEA SCHOOL. The bilingual G9 high school offers both the German Abitur and the IB Diploma as internationally recognized qualifications for higher education. As part of the opening ceremony, ALEA SCHOOL also unveiled its official school mascots for the first time: the clever foxes Amber and Oak. Choosing the fox as the heraldic animal makes perfect sense in every way: the fox is considered clever, resourceful, brave, and curious. He thus embodies the attitude toward learning that ALEA aims to instill in its students. In addition, as a figure with whom students can identify, he connects them to the surrounding Spessart Forest. Also part of the opening ceremony was musician and actress Lina Larissa Strahl, who will be lending her voice to the clever fox Amber in future animated films and radio plays. The 27-year-old musician performed a live acoustic set and, together with the children and a staff member from the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research – an ALEA SCHOOL partner – planted a total of twenty insect-friendly shrubs on the new Lindenallee campus. Most recently, ALEA SCHOOL announced a comprehensive educational partnership with the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. As part of the opening ceremony, Principal Pauline Ponti gave students and parents their first tour of the new school building on the Lindenallee campus. The opening ceremony was rounded off with a casual barbecue – in keeping with ALEA SCHOOL’s international profile and the school’s close ties to the U.S. West Coast, California specialties were served. With this, ALEA SCHOOL gave a preview of the high-quality school catering provided by the TAPATA team. Meanwhile, planning for the final Parkallee school campus continues. A move is a possibility for the 2028–2029 school year. Applications for fifth graders for the 2026/2027 school year are now being accepted at www.alea.school.