On September 18th 2017 members of the Alumni Association Board, Monika Rajska and Agnieszka Zwierzynska met with graduates of the ILVP (International Visitor Leadership Program) and LEADERS PAFW (Polish-American Freedom Foundation) at the Ambassador’s Residence to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its creation. The program allowed sending over 100 leaders from all over Poland do the U.S. and establishing a network of leaders in Poland, engaged in local affairs. The ILVP program is carried out by the U.S. Embassy in cooperation with the Polish-American Freedom Foundation and the School for Leaders. It’s part of the International Leaders’ Program supervised by the USA State Department, which supports local activists involved in areas of civil society, culture and environment.
Other meeting participants included Marek Mendel and Piotr Koziol, who are involved with the Association’s activities through organizing the October meeting in Opole as part of the Association’s Road Show program on local democracy and civic attitudes.
Agnieszka Zwierzynska together with Mark Mendel travelled to the USA in 2013 as part of a visit dedicated to youth work, methods and good practices in extracurricular education, organized in collaboration with PAFW.
During the meeting Ambassador Paul Jones as well as Ambassador Jerzy Kozminski, head of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, encouraged the graduates to remain active, share their U.S. experiences with coworkers, family and friends and to continue their involvement as mentors.
Recipients of both scholarships participated in 2 days of workshops organized by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, the first topic was experience exchange conducted using the World Cafe technique, and management in crisis was covered on the second day.
The group of leaders are part of a growing number of over 4 000 graduates who participated in exchanges organized by the American government. This number includes, among others, graduates of the Fulbright Program and the youngest – participants of the Future Leaders Exchange Program FLEX.
