Presentation entitled "Cultural and social aspect of Polish jesuits' activity in the era of globalization" performed during Jesuit History Congress in Palermo

1. Presentation prepared by students
from Jesuit High School in Gdynia,
Poland

2.  In our presentation, we will discuss general
activity of Polish Jesuits, both in the past and
at the present moment. First, we would like to
show you the way the representatives of this
order acted once in the fields of educational
and social issues; then we will focus on their
present activity, discussing mainly the actions
taking place in Jesuit High School in Gdynia
in the context of cultural and social life. We
invite you to watch our presentation.

3.  XVIth/XVIIth century
 The first Jesuit gymnasium in Poland was opened in Braniewo
on 8th of January 1565. Jesuits from many different countries
of Western Europe, who were familiar with the spirit and
organization of an order school, worked there.
 In XVIth century staple canon of subjects was identical in every
school
 In 1599 came out the first school statue Ratio studiorum
 The newly-established school network gave the opportunity to
educate a lot of noble and townsman youth
 Jesuits put emphasis on secondary and higher education and
languages learning
 Jesuit schools were open for non-Catholic people too
 Many church officials and personages, who rendered great
service to our country, received Jesuit education

4.  until 1939:
 One of the basic elements of Jesuit schools
activity was school trips organising. During
such trips, students got to know more about
the culture and inhabitants of visited regions
and broadened knowledge about their country
 years 1939-1945:
 A group of qualified gymnasium teachers
started the secret teaching. They wanted to
save Polish youth from destructive influence
of occupation.

6. Now we intend to give you a piece of
information about some of the projects that
our school has participated in. We will
focus mainly on student exchanges and
projects which involve the participation of
lots of Jesuit schools from Europe.

7.  For 13 years, with the co-operation of
Realschule Medinghoven in Bonn, our school
has been organizing Polish-German youth
exchanges. Each year, there is a meeting
established, either in Gdynia (Polnad), or in
Bonn (Germany). The main goal of this
project is to familiarize both of the groups with
the culture and history of two neighbouring
nations. It motivates the students to
overcome stereotypes and search for mental
similarities rather than differences.

9.  This project has been carried out since 2008.
Over the years, it has been aimed at sharing
common experience and working together on
important issues of contemporary European
societies (i.e. ecology, environmental threats).
The project is to bring young people of both
Polish and Ukrainian descent together and
encourage them to learn the shared past of
two countries and their current cooperation
within international policy (i.e. EURO 2012).

11.  Since 2005, our school has participated in the
simulation of European Parliament work
within JEEP. Students, who are divided into
several groups, discuss and work on
specified tasks connected with urgent
European issues. This project aims at
involving students in creative problem solving,
developing their public spirit and increasing
awareness of contemporary European policy
within young generation.

13.  This project allows four of our best students to get
acquainted with the culture of Australia, together
with the development of their language skills
through the participation in regular classes at St.
Aloysius’ College in Sydney. This trip, apart from
being a great opportunity for learning more about
everyday experience of Australian students,
enables its particiapants to reach English
proficiency in the distant country of its native
speakers. What is more, additional travels within
the project constitute a perfect occasion to
familiarize oneself with the rich variety of
Australian environment and geography.