Embassy Events 2009

Polish Students in the Parliamentary Youth Exchange Program Meet Senator Lugar

9 March 2009

Senator Lugar with Exchangees (photo gallery)

The first group of fifteen Polish High School students participating in the new U.S.-Poland Parliamentary Exchange Program met with Indiana Senator, Richard Lugar, on Thursday, March 5, at the Capitol.  It was Senator Lugar who championed the Parliamentary Youth Exchange Program in Congress and helped establish it in cooperation with the government of Poland.  The program allows American and Polish secondary students under 19 years old who have been accepted for up to one academic year of study abroad in a credit-approved program to attend high school and participate in leadership training in the United States and Poland. “Student exchange programs do more than benefit individual scholars and advance human knowledge,” said Senator Lugar. “Such programs expand ties between nations, improve international commerce, encourage cooperative solutions to global problems, prevent war, and give participants a chance to develop a sense of global service and responsibility.”  Senator Lugar hailed the launch of this new exchange program in a press release issued February 15. 

n February 7, the students (from Gdańsk and Nowy Sącz) departed to the United States to spend four weeks studying in American high schools in either Des Moines, Iowa, or Chicago, Illinois; interning for a local government leader; and visiting key institutions during a Civic Education week in Washington, DC.  The program offers students and teachers from the U.S. and Poland the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge and a deeper understanding of each country’s history and culture. It promotes the establishment of enduring ties with peers from other countries while exploring the vital commonalities of education, politics, and culture. The students will document their trip on their group blog: usawrealu.wordpress.com.

Students in this year’s program began their weeklong civics education workshop in Washington, DC on March 1.  During a session hosted by the Polish Embassy on Monday, March 2, followed by the Embassy tour, Poland’s Ambassador to the United States, Robert Kupiecki answered the students’ questions on the importance of international educational exchange and the relationship between the U.S. and Poland.  Each student received a bag with the 90th anniversary commemorative book signed by Ambassador Kupiecki.  The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw proudly inaugurated the U.S.-Poland Parliamentary Youth Exchange Program in early February as part of this year's celebration of 90 years of U.S.-Polish diplomatic relations.

Before the students left for the United States, the U.S. Embassy organized a pre-departure briefing and pizza party for the outgoing students with the help of the administrators and students from the American School of Warsaw.  The reception included many members of the Embassy community as well as contacts from the Sejm and Senat, the Ministry of Education, and NGOs who work on various youth educational programs. Embassy employees encouraged the students, answered their questions, and emphasized how much we appreciate their desire to visit and study in the United States. The students responded enthusiastically to the warm welcome. The quote of the evening was from one student who said: "This has been so great I can go home already and feel like it was worth it."