Luise von Duesberg Gymnasium Kempen

Lessons began in 1867 at Engerstraße 53, before the school – run by the Ursuline Congregation of Calvarienberg in Ahrweiler – moved into the convent on Mülhauser Straße in 1869. It was dissolved in 1875; only in 1892 was it re-established by the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady in Mülhausen near Grefrath, followed by state recognition in 1909. In 1938 the private school became a municipal secondary school for girls, and on 12 March of the same year the first Abitur examination took place.

In November 1944, school operations came to a halt for a year. After a move to a new building, teaching resumed on 15 October 1945. In 1966, the school – by then the Municipal Modern Languages Gymnasium for Girls – moved to its present site at Berliner Allee 42, which received an extension building in 1977. The school has borne the name Luise von Duesberg Gymnasium since 1980.

Luise Caroline Sophie Johanna von Duesberg was born in Berlin on 10 September 1833, the seventh child of Gerhard Franz Xaver Duesberg from Borken, who was ennobled in 1840. On 28 August 1856 she entered the Ursuline Congregation of Calvarienberg near Ahrweiler as Sister Mater Hilaria, taught at both elementary and secondary level, and led the novitiate from 1860 until the beginning of 1867. When the congregation established a branch in Kempen for a girls' secondary school, she took over its leadership after passing the qualifying examination – from 1867 to 1869 and again from 1873 to 1875. Under her direction, the sisters also taught at a purpose-built evening school and at the state elementary school, thus following the mission of the order's founder, Angela Merici, to educate girls and to help socially disadvantaged children and young people. After many years as Mother Superior, including at a convent in Belgium, she spent her final years at the Ursuline convent in Boppard, where she died on 19 December 1904.

Cultural interests are actively fostered at the LvD, for instance through choirs, big bands and art project courses. The United Horns are a big band, the JubiBand is aimed at middle school students, and there is also a mini big band for years 5 and 6. Singing takes place in the Voice Company and in the lower school choir Luise Voices. Mathematical and scientific activities are equally in focus: the school is recognised as a STEM-friendly school and takes part in competitions such as the Känguru mathematics competition, Jugend forscht and the Informatik-Biber. Every two years, the technology and university information day is on the calendar.

In the upper school, the range of courses extends from the foreign languages English, Spanish, Latin and French to subjects such as computer science and psychology. Alongside languages, the middle school offers nanotechnology, biology, computer science, economics, business English and media studies, among others. Language certificates can be obtained through DELF and the Cambridge exams. The broadly conceived support programme is oriented towards students' interests and aptitudes and aims to strengthen both enjoyment of learning and self-confidence.

Student exchanges lead to the twin town of Orsay, to the Colegio Salesiano Don Bosco in Alicante, to the Tallinna Saksa Gümnaasium in Estonia and to the Lorentz Casimir Lyceum in Eindhoven. The year's calendar features the ensembles' concerts, the technology day and the FINALE as a performance day at the end of the school year. The Kultursplitter ran until 2016; since 2018 there has been the Kulturpunkt.