The American Elementary School just concluded the next phase of our involvement with the Erasmus + projects that we are involved in by hosting students and teachers from Italy, Spain, and the UK.

The project, one of two the school is participating in, is entitled Jeux Suis sans Frontiere and focuses on issues related to migration.  The visit of our Italian, Spanish, and British partners was a huge success.

Our students and their international peers took part in a variety of activities.  Upon their arrival they met together at U7 for an evening of bowling and getting to know each other.  During the school week the visiting students sat in on a number of lessons and took part in an Art workshop in which they created works of art based on the theme of human rights.

The visitors also visited a number of attractions in the Tri-City, including workshops at the Gdynia Infobox, the Shakespeare Theatre in Gdansk, and the Solidarity Museum (where the group had a fortuitous meeting with the Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa.) 

On Thursday, the students performed an original production at the Gdynia Cultural Center that they had created during improvisation workshops that were conducted by Ms. Iwona, Ms. Zuzia, Mr. Stuart, and Mr. John.  The performance was spectacular.  Given that the young people had limited time to spend creating and rehearsing the show, the quality and professionalism on display was truly impressive and was the result of the dedication, hard work, focus, and determination that the young people brought to the endeavour. 

The visit culminated at a gala that was held on Friday at Studio Panika! During the week the students were encouraged to take photos and videos of the various places they visited and activities they took part in so that they could make a movie documenting the experience.  After viewing all of the submissions, a jury of adults at the school chose a winner.  At the gala, an Oscar statuette was awarded to the young lady whose film was chosen as the best of those submitted.  All of the schools were awarded an Oscar for their participation in the week’s activities and the hard work they put into them.  A good time was had by all at the red-carpet event at Studio Panika!, and it was a good way to say thank you to our visitors as well as bid them farewell.

This experience was an important and valuable one.  The young people collaborated, explored, and created together. The teachers were able to make professional and personal contact with other educators.  And all of us took a step forward in our development as European and World citizens.

Our gratitude is extended to Studio Panika! for hosting the event.

Special thanks to the families who hosted the young people; they not only opened their homes to the students, but they spent quality time with them, adding to the already rich experience they were having.

Special thanks to Ms. Ania Pawlowska, the project manager and to Ms. Aginieszka Langowska, our school’s Coordinator of International Projects.

American writer Mark Twain, author of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and many other books and short stories, was a world traveller.  He knew that travel involved not only a physical journey but an emotional and experiential one as well. “Sail away from the safe harbour,” he once wrote. “Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover.” All those who participated in this project did those things and more.