What a wonderful day! Everywhere you looked, you saw happy, joyful faces, many of which also showed a hint of pride. About 350 guests gathered last weekend to celebrate the successful graduation of our students.
A varied program awaited the participants, who had traveled from all corners of Germany. At 12:00 p.m., the campus tour began in Zittau, where Dr.-Ing. Kahnt, Prof. Dr. Wiegert, Ms. Lorenz, Mr. Rößler, and Mr. Cerwinka welcomed the guests. It was nice for the parents to get to know the place where their children had spent their student years; and for our graduates, it was interesting to see the inside of academic buildings they hadn’t yet explored during their studies.
At 1:30 p.m., the next highlight awaited the graduates: the formal disenrolment(from university). Rector Prof. Dr. Friedrich Albrecht and Mr. Tobias Wendt, Chairman of the Friends of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, welcomed those in attendance and each expressed their hope that the new alumni would maintain ties to the region and the university that extend beyond their studies.
The musical accompaniment by Fritz Wodarczack on saxophone, Felix Weickelt on trumpet, Arne Maiwald on piano, and Christian Fischer on double bass was met with great enthusiasm. The graduates were bid farewell—by program—with warm applause by their deans or faculty members from their respective faculties, as well as by our president personally. This year’s graduation speech by Felix Thurek, who holds a Diplom in business administration, provided a fitting conclusion; in it, he looked back gratefully on his time studying at the HSZG and urged everyone present to celebrate in style once again today.
Afterward, the 2015 Graduates’ Tree— a field maple — was planted in Zittau’s Student Park, and wish balloons were released into the air. In beautiful weather, the guests relaxed outdoors in the park—which, created in 2009 on the initiative of the Stura, has since become increasingly green.
At 6:30 p.m., the festively decorated and beautifully lit student canteen opened its doors and welcomed the graduates—dressed just as festively—along with their families and university faculty members to the graduation ball. The student canteen team surprised the hungry guests with a fantastic buffet. Later, everyone swayed to the music of the Leipzig live band “Black Coffee” and partied exuberantly to the sounds of the Star Club DJ team until the early morning hours.
Our graduation celebration serves as a good starting point for fostering a vibrant alumni network. Furthermore, it makes a valuable contribution to promoting the university. Throughout the event, conversations could be heard time and again between our former students and younger guests, in which studying at the HSZG was enthusiastically recommended. Enthusiastic parents expressed regret that they no longer had any children of college age, but assured us they would send their grandchildren to HSZG. The 2015 graduation ceremony—a success across the board!
We would like to take this opportunity to extend a heartfelt thank you—in addition to those already mentioned in the text—to Ms. Kothe and the student canteen team, the dance group “J-RookerZ,” the Dezibar, our hardworking volunteers, the custodians Mr. Beyer and Mr. Wiechert, and the university staff members who participated. We would also like to thank the Friends of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences e.V. and the HSZG Student Council for their financial support.
Contact:
Public Relations Office
Antje Pfitzner
Email: a.pfitzner@hszg.de