U.S.-Poland Parliamentary Youth Leadership Exchange program participants, teachers, and coordinators. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Education. (photo gallery)

American Students Visit Poland on U.S.-Poland Youth Exchange
July 1, 2009

Fifteen high school students and two teachers from Chicago, Illinois, and Des Moines, Iowa, are wrapping up a four-week stay in Poland this week.  The students and teachers are participating in the first edition of the U.S.-Poland Parliamentary Youth Leadership Exchange program.  The American exchange participants spent their first two weeks in Poland living with host families, attending high school classes, interning with local organizations, and touring historic sites.  Some students in the group visited Gdańsk while others went to Nowy Sącz.  For their third week, the Americans assembled in Warsaw for a week-long program of civic education to learn more about Polish history, government, law, and culture. 

Among the highlights in Warsaw were a meeting and tour at the Polish Parliament, a meeting and lunch with Minister of Education Katarzyna Hall, and a reception at the residence of U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe.  In the final week of their program, the Americans reunited with their Polish counterparts – who spent four weeks in Chicago and Des Moines last February –  for a week of leadership workshops in Kraków and visits to historical sights in southern Poland.  The American and Polish participants celebrated the 4th of July together with U.S. Consul General in Krakow Anne Hall as she opened the American Dream exhibit at the National Museum in Krakow.  Click here for more information about this exchange program and about the Polish students and teachers’ trip to the U.S. in February 2009. To see photos from the event please click here.