Stein proudly presents: Jien He

May | 2026

Stein proudly presents: Jien He from Beijing in China. Jien settled into Stein remarkably quickly from the very first moment. With his open, inquisitive nature, he was immediately a part of our community and remains so with full conviction to this day.

As a true sports fan, Jien is hard to imagine life without being on the pitch: he is particularly fond of soccer, whether he is actively involved after a long day at school with the Steiners or as an enthusiastic fan of his favorite club. But he also shows great passion and team spirit in basketball and has been able to celebrate great successes with his team, e.g. at boarding school Olympics. Jien has also provided reliable support as a photographer at numerous Stein events and captured many special moments.

Jien has also done exceptionally well at school: Although German is not his native language, he was able to skip a grade thanks to his outstanding performance. Now, not yet 17 years old, he is already about to take his Abitur.

For us, Jien is much more than just a committed student. He is an integral part of our boarding school family and a great example of internationality in action. We will miss him all the more for his enthusiasm and his fine sense of humor.

“Jien manages to organize his school duties and his free time in such a way that he is maximally successful in both areas of activity. I think that’s really strong at his age. He also has a good sense of humor. It’s hard to believe this beauty.
You can always rely on Jien.”

Christian Matyszok | Deputy Head of Boarding School

Who is your Steiner superhero?

“My Steiner superhero is Mr. Meckl. Over the last three years, I have developed a great enthusiasm for basketball and our basketball coach Mr. Meckl is very special to me. I can still remember how we won the boarding school Olympics with Mr. Meckl two years ago – it was an incredible day. Without Mr. Meckl, I might not have played basketball at Steiner and would have missed out on such a wonderful time.”

What is your favorite subject and why?

“My favorite subject is math. On the one hand, I want to study mathematics later, so it’s important to me to have good grades in math. On the other hand, I also like the process of discovering and learning new mathematical topics and content.”

What are your plans after Abitur?

“I want to study mathematics at ETH Zurich and, of course, continue playing basketball. Maybe I’ll also develop a new hobby, because it’s particularly important to me that my life is varied during my studies.”

“Especially in math, Jien stands out due to his extraordinary perceptiveness and his joy of thinking. He gets to the bottom of things, asks clever questions and often finds solutions that go beyond the expected. You can tell that the subject really fascinates him.
From my own experience, I wouldn’t recommend studying mathematics lightly – it takes a lot of sweat and a few nerves. However, I can very well imagine that he will enjoy it and that he will be able to follow this path successfully.
I wish Jien all the best for his Abitur and his future career. I can’t wait to see where his path will take him.”

Veronika Koch | Principal

What will you miss most about Stein?

“I will actually miss everything I experienced here in Steiner – regardless of whether I thought it was “good” or “bad” at the time. I’ll probably miss the time before my Abitur the most, because I really had a lot of free time and was able to do a lot with my friends. (e.g. playing basketball)”

“Jien first came to us in tenth grade, in line with his age. After just a few weeks, it became clear that he had far above-average potential and his principal at the time, Theresia Schilling, gave him the opportunity to move up to the eleventh grade. He has taken advantage of this rare opportunity to this day and is one of our top-performing school leavers these days. But this is just one facet of his personality. I appreciate at least as much that he personifies a bridge between cultures with great wisdom and humor. He has managed to have friends and activities in all cultural groups in Steiner. He also enjoys factual debate, which is something I also really appreciate about him. Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet his parents in person, and here too it became clear what a happy path we were able to walk together with him here. We will miss him very much, and I hope that he will keep in touch with Steiner even after his Abitur, which I am sure will be very good. For now, good luck and success in the exams!“

Sebastian Ziegler | General Manager