Learning Together in Changing Times

42 Wolfsburg’s Quarterly Update.

This summer produced dramatic headlines around the world — and in outer space — record-breaking heat waves, new stunning telescopic photos from NASA, and a sadly still ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.

After welcoming our new cohort of students in April, our school has been bustling with life and peer-learning energy. We are proud to have created a safe space where lifetime bonds can be forged and nourished, where personalities grow and the transfer of knowledge is helping build the next generation of our society’s thinkers and doers.

Here’s our quick rundown of what has taken place in the last few months:

Our Piscines & Beyond

42 Wolfsburg has welcomed 320 Pisciners this summer, and 250 more have signed up for the November Piscine. We’re expecting to welcome around 150 new students at the upcoming December Kick-Off.

Throughout the summer period, our team introduced Agile Learning Workflow; a SCRUM-based study management scheme meant to improve time management abilities of our (especially remote) students.

Safe Harbour Program for Dissidents & Refugees

The Safe Harbour programme, set-up in response to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, is supporting 13 refugees from 42 Kiev and 8 dissidents from 42 Moscow & Kasan to study with us and integrate into the Wolfsburg community. Some of their stories have been shared via medium; here’s Facinet’s story, and here’s Hanna’s story.

It’s All Happening in the 42 Community

The 42 community settlement in “Höfe”, in cooperation with Neuland, aims to promote student life and provide fair rental conditions as well as common spaces and services such as a bbq and gardening area, living room space, and more. 23 students have already settled in the Höfe area. The three-room apartments, just a ten minute walk from campus, provide an affordable and convenient option. Neuland offers special rental conditions for 42 Wolfsburg students, such as no deposit, short termination period as well as a furnished kitchen and bathroom with a washing machine.

Our Cooperation with the student dorm in Heßlinger Straße has allowed many 42 students to find accommodation through these facilities and complete the Piscine onsite for the full 42 experience. The relocation office prepared guidelines in English to ease the application process and keeps regular contact with the student dorm representative, Mrs. Voges, who shares the 42 values and has been greatly supportive in facilitating all our student’s preferences and needs. We are currently working on finalizing an official cooperation with the Studentenwerk Ostniedersachsen to extend the number of rooms reserved for 42 students. The student dorm also provided a community space within the dorm for study groups and cooking evenings.

The P2P German initiative saw WolfsDen start a Peer-to-Peer German initiative in May to encourage people to use the resources within 42 to learn the local language. Current resources include an extensive list of self-study resources, self-study groups, Discord channels, posts about the German language from the Relocation Office, German-speaking volunteers, study groups, German game nights, and access to the magazine “Deutsch Perfekt.”

Coding the Future of Mobility

On 1st September, the 42 Wolfsburg’s SEA:ME — Software Engineering in Automotive and Mobility Ecosystems — Pilot Program launched. This initial program aims to test the new advanced learning curriculum in automotive mobility. From September 2022 to February 2023, students, new learning facilitators, our tech lead Pratik and our fellows will cover one of the three pillars of the emerging SEA:ME curriculum, by working their way through the Embedded Systems Module.

The students joining us from our partners Kookmin University and 42 Seoul have settled well in Wolfsburg and on campus with support of our students, the relocation team, and our new international program manager Tim (Kremser). Pratik, as owner of the SEA:ME curriculum, has brought them to a successful start, and the students have surprised us all by how quickly they started assembling and programming their PiRacer cars.

To kickstart the Pilot Program, 42 students and staff welcomed the Korean students with a special edition of our Chill & Grill program, which included tasty kimchi. As part of their onboarding in Wolfsburg, the students also participated in a factory tour at VW.

The next steps in the SEA:ME program development will be a hackathon in Munich and a SEA:ME Symposium for program fellows. The fellows will join us on campus, work on curriculum development and mingle with students.

All current activities under the Pilot Program and in the ongoing curriculum development with SEA:ME fellows are geared toward getting us ready for launching the full curriculum next summer. Starting in June 2023, students of 42 Wolfsburg and of our partner institutions shall join together as the first cohort covering the full program, including all three SEA:ME curriculum pillars. We all look forward to making SEA:ME a standout learning experience in autonomous mobility — producing the experts of the future for this growing cluster of tech, societal impact, and employment fields.

Visit the SEA:ME website

Special Occasions

Our campus has come alive this summer and we have taken full advantage of our newfound freedom by hosting multiple events on our campus. We list a few of them below:

The Wolfsburg Summerfest gave students a glimpse into various coding projects, to the backdrop of music from the jazz band Chameleon and food from Glöckl. A great atmosphere was created for and by students, guests, staff and Fellows.

The 42 Wolfsburg Spain Summer Camp in August connected students from 42 Wolfsburg, 42 Heilbronn, and CODAM. 31 students visited 42 Barcelona and made 42 Wolfsburg’s connections even wider. The group enjoyed a week of (hardly any) coding, sun, sea and sand. There was lots of Community cooking, community games and bonding. Planning for 2023’s Summer Camp is already in motion!

Regular Fireside chats hosted by our CEO and Headmaster, Max Senges, saw individuals with inspirational and innovative ideas explore many topics to a live audience. Our most recent guest was Joe Edelman; a philosopher, game designer and programmer. Watch it here.

In September, 42 Wolfsburg hosted the Neuland Höfe Fest. This day celebrated the growing relationship between Neuland and 42 Wolfsburg.

42 Fellows breathe life into our open learning platform: The summer edition of our Fellow Gathering saw approx. 100 fellows and students come together for a day filled with activities of all sorts: #peerlearning, networking, student/fellow ‘speed-dating’, #knowledgesharing in all its forms & BBQ in our sunny yard in Wolfsburg.