Student Anne-Maria Matejas | They understand me here

Anne-Maria Matejas is a member of Mensa. She already had an individual study plan at her elementary school and passed a number of subjects with schoolmates several years older. When she was only ten, she left her home for a boarding school some 380 kilometers away. Her first weeks there were not at all easy; she missed her family. In spite of that, when back at home every weekend, she enthusiastically told her parents how happy she was at the Open Gate grammar school in Babice, central Bohemia. Today, she is twelve, and she still feels great among the talented children who attend this school, whether or not supported by need-based grants provided by the family foundation of Mrs. Renáta Kellnerová and Mr. Petr Kellner. She feels the advancement that she has achieved in many subjects, and she grasps all opportunities for extracurricular activities offered there. Such as horse riding.

What is the name of your most favorite horse from the school’s stables?
Butyna, she is an English Thoroughbred. I rode her a lot last year. This year, I seem to spend most of my time with Kuba, a Fjord horse. But English Thoroughbreds are closer to me by nature.

So you are also a dynamic personality?
Yes. Sometimes people are surprised that I say directly what occurs to me. I sometimes think things through better only afterwards.  

Does it happen that you blurt something out and people do not understand you at all?
This is what is great about Open Gate - that they all understand me. There were problems at the elementary school; there, schoolmates often did not understand me although I attended a higher grade than my age required. Here, we discuss, say, physics, and nobody thinks it is anything strange.

Have you skipped any year of elementary school?
Yes, the very first grade. I only attended the first grade for about 14 days and then they placed me right in the second grade for some subjects. Since then, I had an individual study plan and I passed, for example, sciences, Czech and math in higher-year grades.

A short time in one class, a short time in another: how did you manage to form friendships with schoolmates?
Not very well. They did not accept me properly in any of those classes. It only happened at Open Gate. It is a completely different world than the elementary school. Here, nobody feels a need to behave nastily to others or denigrate anyone. Although all have some personal ambitions here, they do not overdo it.

But competitiveness must be here, at least in the school’s debate league.
But this is staged; no razor-edge disputes. When the tournament ends, we behave to each other completely normally again.

What does the debate league give you for your learning and for your life?
The art of communication and of defending my opinions. Sometimes we have a debate on a topic, or, rather, I have to defend an attitude with which I completely disagree. It then helps me a lot that I can get my teeth into it and change myself for that moment. I think this ability is important in life.

What foreign languages did you speak before you joined Open Gate?
The basics of English and I had taken German with six-graders since the third grade. My grandfather guided me towards German.

In language teaching here, do they place greater emphasis on vocabulary, or on grammar?
It works as follows: for the first four years of this grammar school, we are getting accustomed to English. Two years focus on vocabulary and two years focus on grammar. From the kvinta [fifth grade], instruction is completely in English.

What was the most difficult for you when you changed schools, in addition to English?
When I joined Open Gate, I missed my family very much. I am an only child and have really strong ties to my parents. The first days, I even cried sometimes. But this was offset by the fact that I found great friends here immediately and also that we have great teachers here. Learning has been fun for me since the very first moment and since each and every one of my days here is busy with a lot of activities, gradually I did not have time for self-pity. But my mom felt the separation worse than I did. In the end, I have managed to convince her that I am happy here. I keep giving her enthusiastic accounts of the school all the time. We speak with each other over the telephone every day.

You like to write essays. What was the theme of the latest one?
I focus on the situation in Europe, the refugee crisis, a lot. What bothers me is the Czechs’ negative approach.

You were learning German; your grandfather has some of his family roots in Germany. If you had a chance to ask one question of German Chancellor Mrs. Merkel, what would you ask her?
How it is with the refugees in reality. It appears to me that the media are distorting it, that they sometimes exaggerate the damage caused by the current developments in Europe. She probably knows about this the most, and I would like to know her opinion.

Do you think that the fact that she is a woman plays a role in her attitude?
I believe that she is the type of person who takes into consideration the position they hold as much as possible. It can be seen that she tries to adjust her behavior to the male, absolutely rational approach.

Open Gate students come from various family, language and cultural backgrounds. Can this be felt in your discussions on these political questions?
Yes, the debate is much more diverse than when I talk to people who come from one region.

Do you make new friends easily?
Here, yes, because we spend a lot of time together in the dorms. I found my first great friend here, my roommate, in two days.

How has the stay at Open Gate changed you?
I have learned to be independent. And also a different approach to people, greater tolerance, when I spend so many hours with them every day. Not to quarrel even when it looks like a quarrel will break out. We have a school psychologist here in case we are not able to tackle such situations.

What would you want to be one day?
I am unable to answer this; I am interested in an awful lot of things. For instance, physics. In this discipline I would have fun focusing on quantum physics and work, say, at the Swiss research center CERN.

You learned of the existence of Open Gate from the Mensa organization’s newsletter. Did you know right away that this was the right school for you?
I was enthusiastic already then, from that small leaflet. I longed for studying somewhere where my knowledge and interests would not be the target of ridicule. Where I could be myself.

Were you preparing for the admission tests?
No, because I was doing the admission test for the grammar school in Havířov concurrently. On the occasion of the Open Day at Open Gate I successfully passed the ‘mock admission tests’, and so I did not have to travel there to sit the normal admission tests.

You receive need-based grants from The Kellner Family Foundation. Do you have an idea of the amount?
I do not know exactly but I think it is at least 70% of total school fees.

Your schoolmates include children from both socially disadvantaged and the most affluent families. Can you tell them apart by their behavior?
I myself have friends from both of these groups and differences are virtually invisible. We all wear school uniforms and you can only tell our different social status by the cell phone brand.