In the room ofjunior campus there is a colorful jumble, not untidy, but you can see at first glance how much creativity and happiness usually bubbles up here. The tables are covered with materials and gadgets that encourage even the grown-ups to try them out.
At this place, where normally children and young people can research and experiment in the natural sciences and technology, adults are now standing around the tables. They, too, await the explanations of the experiments with palpable curiosity.
It’s not the first time that Jutta and Frank Rochlitzer as well as Bianka Prüße von Wentzky are coming to the JuniorCampus of the Technical University of Lübeck on Thursday, March 25th. They founded theMINT FOUNDATION LÜBECK Jutta and Frank Rochlitzer” has again invested in the MINT modules, this time magnetism and electricity, of the JuniorCampus to give the children and young people space for research and discovery.
And since the Rochlitzer couple are themselves interested in MINT, i.e. math, computer science, natural sciences and technology, they wanted to see on site what was financed and made possible with their resources. For this reason, the JuniorCampus team around Professor Jürgen Tchorz presents the two sponsored modules and tells of the numerous visits by school classes.
Jochem Bohnet and Volker Geist from the Junior Campus team go from one table to the other, demonstrate machines and explain experiments that are otherwise supposed to bring the children closer to scientific and technical topics. However, without arithmetic and complicated formulas, but only through independent testing and experimentation.
And the sponsors Jutta Rochlitzer and Bianka Prüße from Wentzky are also happy to try out one or the other for themselves. Seeing how chains of magnetic beads react when you hold them to strong magnets from different directions, or how iron powder becomes a hedgehog-like structure when attracted by a magnet, also arouses great fascination for them.
Even Frank Rochlitzer, who has worked as an engineer all his life, you can tell directly how much he enjoys technology and natural sciences. “It is my wish that the spark of enthusiasm for MINT jumps over even in children,” says the sponsor. He himself had such an experience in his childhood that he can still remember, and he wishes that to other young people too.
For this reason, they were pleased that the money from their foundation could be used to contribute to this goal and that they could now personally see exactly what their donation was used for, the sponsors explain.
“We are glad that our support can be used to introduce young people to the natural sciences and technology in a playful way,” concludes Jutta Rochlitzer.
Anyone who would like to find out more about the goals and projects of the Rochlitzer Foundation can do a lot on the website www.mint-stiftung-luebeck.de read.