Apprentices make a splash at their graduation ceremony

This year, Dietmar Meier once again took on the role of ‘Gautschmeister’ – the person in charge of ensuring that the apprentices end up suitably drenched. Marco Gavez and Mathias Bergmann assisted him by acting as sponge-bearers, while Nils Corbasson and Sergej Brendler had the job of grabbing hold of their young colleagues. The event began with a speech by Wilfried Velte. Velte, Torben Kuge and Silke Bollmeyer congratulated the apprentices on their success on behalf of the management, the works council and the HR Department. Velte mentioned that this ceremony was a long-standing tradition that Mohn Media still observed and had now extended to apprentices in other areas. This year’s apprentices had done very well, so they really deserved a good soaking, Velte added. Kuge stressed that the new graduates should be very proud of the excellent qualifications they had obtained at Mohn Media. Ernst-Hermann Bedey, responsible for the vocational school for commercial training, also congratulated the apprentices. Once the official part of the ceremony was over, it was time for a drenching! After undergoing an intensive ‘pre-wash cycle’ with sponges and a fire hose, the new graduates were each dunked in a tub of water as the crowd cheered. The youngsters took it well – perhaps because they knew that people only ever have to go through this ceremony once, at the start of their career.