Students at the Janusz Korczak II Secondary School in Bolesławiec hosted Daria Sala, a European diplomacy student at the University of Wrocław and a volunteer, among other things, with Szlachetna Paczka, and Paulina Pytel, a student at Wrocław University of Technology (Faculty of Computer Science and Management) and a Polish Scouting and Guiding Association instructor. Both represented the Lower Silesian branch of Klub Jagielloński, a Kraków-based association whose mission is “to uphold and promote a republican way of thinking about Poland as a valuable part of European culture and a common good worthy of the utmost care.”
Several years ago, representatives of the organization came up with the idea that, for reality in Poland to improve, work at the grassroots level was needed. Thus the Academy of Modern Patriotism project was created, in which Bolesławiec’s II LO is also taking part.
Among other things, the students had the opportunity to take on the roles of parliamentarians and Bolesławiec authorities. They wrote a text entitled “The Poland of My Dreams” and also created an Internet meme promoting our city. Now they have been tasked with making an approximately two-minute film.
The text and photograph created by the “two” students have been posted on the Academy of Modern Patriotism website. You can already vote for our school!
“These classes are called From Complaining to Taking Action,” says Daria Sala. “The Academy of Modern Patriotism program is intended to instill in young people a desire to take action. We want them to learn to give something of themselves, rather than only take. And it works.”
According to the Klub Jagielloński volunteer, the civic awareness of today’s secondary-school students is greater than it was several years ago. “But it can always be even better,” she says with a smile.
Thanks to a strategic partnership with the PKO BP Foundation, in 2014 the Academy of Modern Patriotism program will be carried out in 10 voivodeships (approximately 100 schools from across Poland). The project will culminate in the Final Gala (10 June) at the Auditorium Maximum of Jagiellonian University in Kraków. The Audience Award and the Experts’ Award will then be presented.
The Academy grew out of a passion for political science, social sciences and civic engagement, which Klub Jagielloński wants to share with secondary-school students. The second source of inspiration is the belief that the best way to teach “Civics” is by showing the real mechanisms governing public life. Therefore, each class is based on a script specially prepared by the Klub’s volunteers, enabling young people not only to learn the theory but, above all, to understand practice.
The organizers believe that thanks to the Academy, secondary-school students will not only become more aware citizens but, above all, modern patriots who prefer to act for others rather than cultivate the so-called CV culture.
(information: Klub Jagielloński/ii)