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Introducing team Poland. Also features highlights from Recruitment Fair in Liverpool's St George's Hall.
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ISSUE #6
POLAND
ESTABLISHING the Polish office of Camp Leaders in the city of Lublin was
an easy choice for both Pawel and Paulina.
Despite it being more than three hours travel from Warsaw and Krakow
the city provided a strong academic presence from which to recruit future
young people who would want to embark on an opportunity of making a
life changing journey to the USA.
So in 2007, the pair set about their task with an inner belief that from day
one this venture was going to work.
And given the fact that both had experience of what travel and meeting
people from other cultures had done to their lives, they felt they should
share it with others.
Ably assisted by Alex Fekete and the staff of the Hungarian office, their first
recruitment drive in 2008 brought in 67 participants to the program.
Compare that with 2014, when the Polish office had more than raised the
bar a little by recruiting 620 people, making it the third largest recruitment
country among the Smaller Earth family.
POLAND
LUBLIN, POLAND
Continued on page 4
Currently, the Polish office employs five full time staff, three interns as well
as 30 nationwide team recruiters.
Both the experience and connections gained from their stays at camp has
enabled Pawel and Paulina to establish a business relationship with one
of the biggest food service company’s in Western Massachusetts - Keilty’s
Food Service. And every year the director of the company comes to Central
Europe for the hiring trip, which results in 60 support staff placements a
season.
Smaller Earth in Poland also operates the Canago program with more than
20 participants last season.
Ask Pawel or Paulina what is special about the Polish office and its staff and
they will readily respond that it’s all about energy and teamwork
“As an office we fit very well with the theme of Smaller Earth, which is one of being part of both an energetic and performance driven team of young people. “The best expression is small team but large impact, where each member of staff strives for success in an atmosphere where they feel part of something much, much bigger.
“We fundamentally achieve this by unhesitatingly giving a helping hand to one another in what is often like a close knit family. “This cooperation extends beyond our borders and even enabled some of the team to visit the Hungarian office to exchange new ideas, as well as organising a reunion party for Camp Leaders and a Halloween party last November, in Lublin, for past, present and future participants in the program. “The staff sees their work as a life mission in helping broaden young people’s horizons and showing them that while the world is wide open, it is much smaller than they actually think.
And just like a spark to a flame, the team’s greatest joy is in witnessing those program participants and their subsequent development into the wider world.”
P A W E L D Z I E R Z A KDIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER OF CAMP LEADERS POLAND
Pawel holds two masters degrees, one from the University of Salford in security studies
and another in international relations from the University of Lublin.
When he is relaxing he enjoys long distance swimming and his New Year resolution was
to complete a triathlon in 2015. His other interests include contemporary history, politics,
law and economic, even calling his dog Forint after the Hungarian currency.
Pawel spent 10 summers at Camp Half Moon in Great Barrington, which gave him a deep
insight into how camps operate.
He is now responsible for overseeing Camp Leaders and Smaller Earth operations in
Poland and is involved in setting up tax refund service for Smaller Earth on a global level.
Pawel is married to his Camp Leader’s Poland co-founder Paulina. and a father to Bruno.
The couple are expecting baby number two come July.
P A U L I N A G I Z Y C K APROGRAM MANAGER/CO-FOUNDER OF CAMP LEADERS POLAND
After encouragement from Pawel, Paulina started out on her American camp adventure
in 2003, an adventure which lasted for nine summers.
As well as being an international Relations graduate from the University of Lublin she
has a postgraduate diploma in public relations from the University of Warsaw.
Paulina likes to understand how social media impacts on the company’s operations and
is very much a details oriented person who keeps Polish operations on the straight and
narrow.
Paulina’s Facebook campaigns help generate lots of interest in the Camp Leaders
program in Poland. As a result, as of last month, the recruitment for the upcoming
season had reached its target.
Among her other roles, Paulina oversees flights, insurance and visas in Poland.
Paulina and Pawel got married in 2011 and in 2012 their first son Bruno was born and
another little Dzierzak is due in summer.
One final word about Paulina, is to remember she does not like being on water and even
gets seasick on duck tours!
M A G D A L E N A W I E T R A S Z U KCAMP AND RESORT LEADERS PROGRAMS AND CANAGO RECRUITER
Magdalena joined the Smaller Earth office in 2012, after completing her first summer at
Camp Chingachgook YMCA, followed in 2013, by a summer at Camp Sloane YMCA.
Last year she also graduated after completing a degree in American literature and
culture at the University of Lublin. She is currently doing her masters part time in
corporate capitalism.
Her hobbies include dance and gymnastics and whenever the opportunity allows she
brushes up on her Spanish.
An amusing fact is that Pawel, whilst visiting Magdalena at Camp Chingachgook in 2013,
did not actually recognize her as a Polish participant, and it was only after a quick chat in
English they both realized they were from Lublin.
Currently, she coordinates both Camp Leaders and Resort Leaders Programs and helps
in processing Canago applications!
This summer she is going to work at Mount Washington Resort as a front desk agent.
M A G D A L E N A P E D R Y CCOORDINATOR CAMP LEADERS AND CANAGO PROGRAM
Magda has been working for Smaller Earth since 2011, as a result of her student
internship. She has already completed her studies in international relations and is
currently doing her doctorate in Middle Eastern politics. In her ‘leisure time’ she learns
Arabic and Korean and lectures at the University of Lublin.
Having spent six summers at camps, she can, to all her co-workers, be deemed ‘a camp
freak’, after visiting four different camps and before finally discovering her second best
place in the world was at Camp Pontiac (New York). And while not declaring where
her best place in the world is, she is currently putting the finishing touches to her new
apartment. When she has any other time to spare, she loves karaoke and sunbathing.
And believe it or not, her pet hate is actually sleeping in tents!
T O M A S Z A D A M C Z Y KCAMP LEADERS COORDINATOR AND IT EXPERT
After spending a couple of summers working at Timber Lake Camp, in New York Tomasz
decided to try his hand working with the Smaller Earth team. And, undoubtedly, he
could not have made a better choice. For the past 18 months, he has been responsible
for coordinating the recruitment process in all the programs available; starting with
contacting participants, through to checking their applications sorting out their visas
and preparation days. Thanks to his passion for computers, he helps solve every IT
issue in the office. It was therefore not without reason that he became the new system
ambassador. At university he graduated with a degree in geography and as well as
travelling to new countries and discovering new cultures he likes warm weather when he
can play football and go hiking. His sense of humor and positive attitude add colour to
the Polish team.
RecruitmentFair atSt. George’sHall
THE largest Camp Leaders recruitment
fair showcased itself in the historic
surroundings of Liverpool’s St George’s
Hall.
The program, which helps young people
use their individual expertise to embark
on often life changing experiences over
the summer months attracted almost
600 would-be recruits to last month’s
event, which involves up to 30 camps
across the United States.
The Camp Leader program, which
comes under the umbrella organization
Smaller Earth, aims to impact on the
lives of 20m people by 2020.
Joint founders of Camp Leaders Chris
Arnold and Dave Robinson were in St
George’s Hall to welcome the young
people and the Lord Mayor of Liverpool
Erica Kemp.
Ms Kemp said:
“I am in favour of anything that
helps develop young people’s
lives and this program has to be applauded.”
“The experience they get will be unique,
and although it will be hard work and
challenging, it will be life changing for
many of them.
“We feel it’s important to support this
type of event which will provide them
with an opportunity to meet with young
people from countries across the world
and included in that are people from
Liverpool.
“A lot of people tell me that young
people sit with their laptops all day,
yet here we have young people doing
anything but that.”
Joint founder Chris Arnold said the
original program for Camp Leaders
which started out in 1999, sent just 32
young people abroad in its first year,
now sends 6,000 annually.
Chris said: “The first of our recruitment
fairs was held in Liverpool in 2004,
when we had just six camp directors
from American camps here whereas in
2015 it was 30.
“And what I love most is to see the
queue outside and then seeing all those
young people and their enthusiasm
bursting through the doors, filled with
both excitement and anticipation at
what they are hoping to embark upon.
“A decade after the first camp fair was
held in Liverpool, I feel like being in St
George’s Hall is a real thrill. And those
six original American camp leaders
are still working with us, which means
we must have done something right.
Here’s to the next ten years!”
Bastian Weinberger, the CEO of Smaller
Earth said: “‘In January, we host a
total of 16 camp leaders fairs in ten
different countries, which will facilitate
the placements of over 1,000 young
people.
“Each of those participants will have the
summer of a lifetime and experience
some amazing personal growth and
development.
“We are particularly proud to have
hosted our biggest fair here in Liverpool
at St. Georges Hall – surely one of the
most impressive buildings in Britain.”
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D E S I G N E D BY
O N T H E C O V E R
Culture in Lublin