Penn Polish Club

03/06/2022

Hi friends,

We know many of you have already donated your time, supplies and money to the humanitarian emergency in Ukraine following the Russian aggression. Nonetheless we wanted to ask for your generosity once more.

Fundacja Happy Kids is supporting the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy and working with the United Nations Global Compact Network Poland to coordinate the evacuation of Ukrainian children from institutional orphanages and foster homes. Evacuated children and care-givers are then placed in foster families and family-based orphanages all over Poland that offer help. The Foundation has experience in running orphanages for the last 21 years, and the Crisis Response Team is run by Aleksandra K. Wiśniewska, Oxford University Polish Society and LSE alumna and former Head of Yemen Mission at Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH) supported by Karol Kras and Przemek Macholak, LSE SU Polish Economic Forum and Penn Polish Club alumni, but as you can imagine this is a challenge noone could have prepared for. As such we need support to scale the operations to accommodate the growing needs. Over the first 6 days we have coordinated the evacuation of 2,000+ children. Given that before the war there were more than 100,000 children in institutional foster care in Ukraine, out of which approximately 20,000-30,000 in the highest-risk areas, we are expecting the need to evacuate to only increase over the coming days.

The donations will be spent on transportation, fuel costs and then, once the children are safely evacuated, long-term accommodation of their psychological, medical and educational needs. You can find the link here: https://www.siepomaga.pl/en/sieroty-ukrainy (once you proceed to donate, by clicking on "more payment methods" you can use Google Pay and PayPal among others).

Given international developments, we are preparing for the humanitarian crisis to be a long-term one, and as such mindful of our capacity we want to include partners from other countries to help in the efforts. If you know of any individual person or organization that could help, please refer them to [email protected]

Thank you so much for your help,
Fundacja Happy Kids

In the interest of preserving the health and life of Ukrainian children, and in the face of the ongoing warfare, the Happy Kids NGO, in cooperation with the City of Łódź, undertook an action to save the most vulnerable lives - children from foster care. The evacuation of orphans from...

02/22/2021

It’s that time of year again–––applications to the Executive Board (EC) of Penn Polish Club 2021-2022 are now open! We hope to receive as many applications as possible. All applications are due by Sunday, March 7th at 11:59pm EST.

https://forms.gle/ieQCDm33swy9W85R9

The term is a full year and and co-positions may be appointed depending on interest. Due to the inability of the club to meet in-person for the foreseeable near future, we are looking for people who are invested in maintaining a Polish community at Penn and who are willing to work to maintain club cohesion and continuity through the hopeful return to in-person activities. No prior experience is necessary. However, applications for certain positions may take into account participation in administrative club activities/responsibilities over the last calendar year.

We encourage all to apply, especially freshman, as well as those who may not have been able to meet or speak with PPC members or participate in PPC events yet due to the pandemic.

You can find more information regarding EC positions in the document below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hQ7jR23pDU3iblg2SMFujslhgiArWYRlPhmW8mTSfMk/edit?fbclid=IwAR0zbcKkvwNXye2o1F7AMLQpuXFzf1u9zlnoCn4L6jE73LDXNPTNAj47pKU

President: The President is the official representative of the Club The President sets the direction of the Club and represents the Club on campus The President oversees different initiatives and is open to feedback from the general Club members, The President plans the agenda of the board me...

03/29/2020

The time has come! Applications for the Penn Polish Club 2020-2021 Board are now open. If you are interested, please fill out the application form before Sunday 12/04.

Apply here: forms.gle/rVqeEo5xeC9oKz7a9

The term is a full year and and co-positions may be appointed depending on interest. We are looking for supportive team players with high level of initiative, entrepreneurship and enthusiasm. No prior experience necessary. Being on Board is a great opportunity to get even more involved, definitely worth considering.

Read about available positions here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hQ7jR23pDU3iblg2SMFujslhgiArWYRlPhmW8mTSfMk/edit?usp=sharing

We encourage you to apply to more than one position (not more than 3 though) Deadline to apply: April 12th

10/10/2019

Congratulations to Olga Tokarczuk!

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018 has just been awarded to the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk “for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.”

BREAKING NEWS: The Nobel Prizes in Literature for 2018 and 2019

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018 is awarded to the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk “for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.”

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2019 is awarded to the Austrian author Peter Handke “for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience.”

Olga Tokarczuk was born 1962 in Sulechów in Poland, and today lives in Wrocław. Her parents were teachers and her father also functioned as school librarian. In the library she read pretty much everything she could get hold of and it was here that she developed her literary appetite. After studies in psychology at the University of Warsaw she made her debut as a fiction writer 1993 with ‘Podróz ludzi Księgi’ (‘The Journey of the Book-People’). Her real breakthrough came with her third novel ‘Prawiek i inne czasy’ 1996 (‘Primeval and Other Times’, 2010). The novel is an excellent example of new Polish literature after 1989, resisting moral judgement and unwilling to represent the conscience of the nation. Instead it shows a remarkable gift of imagination with a high degree of artistic sophistication.

The magnum opus of Tokarczuk so far is the impressive historical novel ‘Księgi Jakubowe’ 2014 (‘The Books of Jacob’). Once more the writer changes mode and genre, and has devoted several years of historical research in archives and libraries to make the work possible. Tokarczuk has in this work showed the supreme capacity of the novel to represent a case almost beyond human understanding.

Peter Handke was born 1942 in a village named Griffen, located in the region Kärnten in southern Austria. This was also the birthplace of his mother Maria, who belonged to the Slovenian minority. From 1961 he studied law at the University of Graz but broke off his studies a few years later when his debut novel ‘Die Hornissen’ (1966) was published. Together with the play ‘Publikumsbeschimpfung’ (‘Offending the Audience’, 1969), he certainly set his mark on the literary scene.

More than fifty years later, having produced a great number of works in different genres, he has established himself as one of the most influential writers in Europe after the Second World War. His bibliography contains novels, essays, note books, dramatic works and screenplays. His works are filled with a strong desire to discover and to make his discoveries come to live by finding new literary expressions for them.

Learn more
Press release: https://bit.ly/2pgsLyQ
2018 bio-bibliography: https://bit.ly/30L5zWv
2019 bio-bibliography: https://bit.ly/2M6KRuI

04/28/2019

Zdecydowanie polecamy!

To tylko dwa fragmenty maili od organizatorów Narad. Porzućcie wątpliwości i rejestrujcie swoją Naradę Obywatelską o Edukacji jeszcze dziś! Razem postaramy się przekuć ją na wielką, ważną zmianę :)
Szczegóły i kontakt na www.naradaobywatelska.pl

04/22/2019

Taki miły akcent z okazji mijających powoli Świąt z Aleksandra Kusiak Quynh Agnieszka Nguyen Przemek Macholak

Zbliża się Wielkanoc. W życiu emigranta to taki czas, kiedy bardzo intensywnie myśli się o domowym jedzeniu. Jeżeli ktoś chciałby opisać stan polskiej oświaty A.D. 2019 jako potrawę, to z garnka wyraźnie zaczyna kipieć.

04/20/2019

Dziękujemy wszystkim niesamowitym ludziom, którzy zdecydowali się spędzić to piątkowe popołudnie z nami. Nasze grono obejmowało studentów od pierwszego roku, po tych na studiach doktoranckich oraz absolwentów; dyskutanci jako uczniowie uczęszczali do szkół publicznych i prywatnych, pochodzą z polskich wsi i największych miast oraz reprezentują polski, amerykański i brytyjski system edukacji. Przez prawie dwie godziny mieliśmy przywilej wspólnie zastanawiać się nad kształtem edukacji jutra w pierwszej i, miejmy nadzieję, nie ostatniej Naradzie Obywatelskiej o Edukacji poza granicami Polski. Ponawiamy nasze i zachęcamy inne stowarzyszenia polskich studentów na obczyźnie do organizacji podobnych narad u siebie. Dziękujemy!

z Aleksandra Kusiak Quynh Agnieszka Nguyen Marta Kowalska Przemek Macholak Ada Tomczuk Ewelina Zurowska Tom Pszeniczny Robert Novak Damian Krupa Jan Nowak Michał Kołakowski Marta Chojnowska

12/10/2018

It is with great pleasure that we’d like to announce the 2019 Penn Polish Club Board. On our behalf, we would like to thank everyone who engaged with our club over the last year, and particularly our board members who did a fantastic job in keeping the Polish spirit going. It’s been a great year, culminated with the memorable celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Polish Independence, and, on that note, we hope that the years to come - the next 100 - will get better and better every year as our club continues to prosper and cultivate Polish traditions and culture.

The 2019 Penn Polish Club Board Members are:

President - Michał Kołakowski
VP - Matt Pasynkiewicz
Director of Finances - Quynh Agnieszka Nguyen
Director of Communications - Damian Krupa
Directors of Internal Affairs - Rafal Promowicz & Adam Konkol
Social Chairs - Jan Nowak & Matt Pasynkiewicz
Senior Advisors - Przemek Macholak, Aleksandra Kusiak, Marta Kowalska, Ada Tomczuk, Jakub Jarmula

We want to congratulate our new board members and wish them all the best in the upcoming year.

Once again, good luck!

Marta and Ada

11/14/2018

This Saturday, join us for the iconic Andrzejki party! Comment to RSVP until tomorrow night as we have to call to reserve spots.

11/11/2018

Sure, we may disagree whether Kieslowski or Wajda was a better director, which of Grechuta's songs is the best one, or on some minor issues like politics or historical interpretations. But on a beautiful day like this, when everyone can feel connected to something bigger and lasting, to some underlying values, share the joy and pride of efforts of our ancestors with your neighbors, friends and families and think how you can make this generation's contribution an even more beautiful one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z57Uuwt1cIk
vs

PS Stay tuned for pictures from yesterday's celebration later on tonight

Celebrate your freedom. Celebrate your home. Celebrate 100 years of Poland regaining independence. 🇵🇱