Polish Economic university students Intern AND study in the mid-state through two programs with a Linglestown link
By Barbara Miller | bmiller@pennlive.com 
                                 January 23, 2013 
Linglestown might be known to many as the town with two new traffic circles, or the host of the new “Jingle Linglestown” on New Year’s Eve.  Many might not realize that it’s also the home of two unique student internship and student exchange programs with a university in Poland.
 Bill Minsker of Linglestown (right), president of Pennsylvania Partnerships Abroad, Ltd., with Polish students from the Wroclaw University of Economics who interned at mid-state businesses and organizations from Sept. 2012-Jan. 2013: (left to right) Jurek Jasionek, B. R. P. Entertainment ( Hershey ); Kris Chudzia, McKonly & Asbury, LLC ( Camp Hill ); Marek Prokopowicz, PAR - Pa. Advocacy and Resources for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities ( Harrisburg ); Ania Szynkarczuk, Hamilton Health Center, Inc. ( Harrisburg ); Ela Bulatewicz, The Arc ( Assn. for Retarded Citizens ) of Dauphin County ( Penbrook ); and Alex Dumas, Hampden Township ( Mechanicsburg )
It was started in 1989 by William Minsker, a Lower Dauphin High School political science teacher, after he met two Polish students while touring the country in 1987 with Hershey Community Chorus.  These two students, from the Wroclaw University of Economics in southwest Poland, urged him to come back and teach in “English” as a native speaker.  This was during the height of Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement, which led to freedom in communist Poland.  “I thought this would be crazy, going into a communist country in the late '80s, when we were still in the late Cold War period, and teach from America,” he said. 
The university had 18,000 students, some of whom had studied some “English,” but native speakers were lacking. “I did a lot of research, and I thought this really is a feasible thing to do,” Minsker said.  He applied to the university and was given a teaching position for 1989-90 academic year, and took a sabbatical from Lower Dauphin.
“I have no Polish background, but I was teaching about communism and socialism, and I was very eager to go and see what was going on there,” Minsker said.  History was in the making in Central Europe.  In 1989, Poland was the first to overthrow communism, which was followed by many other Iron Curtain countries.  Then the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and re-uniting of Germany, and the breakup of the Soviet Union occurred.  “For a political science person, it was fabulous.  I was there when all this was happening, and it was just wild,” he said.
After his first year, Minsker said he came back and spoke to local business and political leaders about tours and educational ventures in Poland.  “There was a huge demand there all at once for “English,” which wasn’t taught in schools – they had to teach “Russian.”  Everyone wanted to learn “English,” but there were no teachers or materials,” Minsker said. 
He left teaching at Lower Dauphin in 1993 and formed a non-profit corporation, Pennsylvania Partnerships Abroad, Ltd. for the many Polish programs he created.  Every second semester, from February through June, Minsker, now 66, continues to teach a 10-week free conversational “English” class at the Wroclaw University of Economics, and is the only native “English” speaker working with students to improve their language skills.
He has formed two types of student programs.  In one, which started three years ago, four students from Shippensburg and Wroclaw universities attend each others’ universities each semester.  In the other, which began in 1990, Wroclaw University of Economics’ students work here four months as interns. So far, 255 students have come here as interns, working at area businesses and organizations.
Interns are completing internships at the Arc of Dauphin County, Penbrook; Pennsylvania Advocacy and Resources for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities, Harrisburg; B.R.P. Entertainment, Hershey; Hamilton Health Center, Harrisburg; McKonly & Asbury accounting firm, Camp Hill; and Hampden Township. They and the 4 college exchange students will be returning to Poland Jan. 26 with Minsker.
As specified by their visa, the student interns are paid a minimum wage by their business or organizational sponsor, with no employee costs, which covers the cost of their visa, insurance, airfare, staying with a local family, food, transportation to and from work, and pocket money. 

At McKonly & Asbury in Camp Hill, this was the third time an intern worked at the firm from Minsker’s program. Jim Shellenberger, senior auditing department manager, said he learned of the program through Minsker, a fellow Harrisburg Kiwanis Club member.  “I think it’s been a learning experience for both of us,” he said of the firm and intern, Kris Chudzia, who worked in the auditing department.  “We thought it went well, and we will bring another intern in next fall,” Shellenberger said.  Chudzia wrote and spoke “English” well, Shellenberger said.  “There were the occasional hiccups along the way, which we mostly thought were humorous,” he said.
“I learned a lot,” Chudzia said.  “I learned much about relationships between my co-workers - they treated me like a member of their family.  It was an experience I never had before.”  In addition to being exposed to our auditing standards and procedures, which differ from those in Poland, he got to travel to client sites both in and outside of Pennsylvania.
There was also time for some weekend travel to New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Hershey, but Chudzia said more would have required more time and money than he had.  Among the things Chudzia said he likes about America are that “people’s approach to each other is much more open than in Poland,” whether it’s waitresses in a restaurant or clients’ accountants.  A big difference is the architecture here, which is simpler and newer, and highways, of which one word suffices – “more.”  Chudzia believes his internship and his financial “English” skills will help him find a job in Poland. 
Shellenberger said he learned that the Polish culture is not as different from ours as he had envisioned.  Football (“soccer”) is an exception, and he invited Chudzia and another intern to play on his recreational soccer team.  "I’ve told Chris I want to go and visit him in Poland,” he said.
Hampden Township has had four interns so far, Township Manager Keith Metts said.  Alex Dumas, who is from Ukraine but is a student at the Wroclaw University of Economics, worked on updating annual reports, information technology projects, database entry, and more while rotating among the township’s eight departments.  “He was a tremendous asset to our IT manager in working on special projects, and different annual reports. He seemed to pick up the ball and run with those types of things,” Metts said.  “The staff in general appreciated the opportunity to interact with the exchange students and get to learn about their cultures and lifestyles and form of government." 
Barbara Jumper, executive director of the ARC of Dauphin County, said Ela Bulatewicz was the agency’s second intern through Pennsylvania Partnerships Abroad, Ltd..  “We’re looking forward to year number three next fall," she said.  "It’s a great asset to anybody’s company.”
Bulatewicz, who majors in international business, worked in marketing, public relations, preparing brochures and mailings, attended conferences, and even shot a video.  “I improved my “English” -  I had to use it all the time.  Also, I improved my computer skills, and I learned how to prepare invitations, flyers, and databases,” she said.  Her “English” skills and internship experience will be helpful in later finding a job, she said.  “We have a lot of American corporations, like UPS, and they need people,” Bulatewicz said.  Among the differences she found in the U.S. A. are that “Everything is bigger.  …and everyone is driving cars.”
Jumper said the internship freed staff time for other tasks, which is important since budget cuts resulted in the marketing position going from full-time to par-time.
Minsker said there’s plenty of student demand for his internship program.  “Tons apply – many more than I can place,” he said.  He has five students placed for the next group # 27, arriving at the end of September this year.  “I am always looking for sponsors. My biggest challenge is to find businesses and organizations to take my students,” he said.
Within the Polish university’s student exchange program together with Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Minsker is also working on developing a professor and staff exchange program, class tele-conferencing, and a two-diploma program in which students could graduate from both schools.  Since this program’s start in the fall of 2010, a total of twelve students have participated in the 1-semester study exchanges from both universities.
Despite his 23-year collaboration, Minsker said he hasn’t become fluent in “Polish.” The Polish students’ “English” is “quite good,” he said, although they often struggle with slang and accents, and the “TH” sound, which is not in their language.  “It’s fine-tuning their English,” he said, which is now taught starting in kindergarten, although it’s mainly “textbook,” rather than practical.  
His volunteer, non-graded course focuses on student-chosen discussion topics, which for the past 2nd semester included topics about the 2012 USA Presidential election, the death penalty, the American legal system, and how to visit the U.S.  “It’s fun; it’s really a blast,” he said.
Poland’s economy, agriculture, and tourism is booming, Minsker said, with industries ranging from petroleum, textiles, electronics, pharmaceuticals, shipping, customer service centers, and automobile, aircraft, and military production.  In addition, the government, currency, inflation, unemployment, and society is stable, and the culture is strong.  He describes Wroclaw, a city of 750,000 inhabitants, with many universities having 165,000 students, as “a dynamic city that is receiving massive foreign investment and tourists -  it’s purely amazing,” and “an economic powerhouse.”  The city is more than 1,000 years old, and has been designated by the European Union as one of two European cities designed “Cities of Culture” for 2016.  Last year it was one of four Polish cities which hosted the European Cup in soccer.