PAC ELECTIONS

We are reminding everyone that on Tuesday 4/11/17 we will be holding PAC elections for the positions at the Polish American Club Board of Trustees. We are delighted and grateful that our members stepped up and offered their candidacies. We will have a ballot for you to download soon with all the voting rules.

President: Małgorzata Cymbał

Vice-President: Mike O’Shea

Secretary: Iwona Testani

Treasurer: Grzegorz Łęcki agreed to submit his candidacy again and stay on his post.

Trustee 1: Janet Baker has one more year of service so she will stay with the Board.

Trustee 2: Eliza Warzycha

Trustee 3: Bożena Stanek

Trustee 4 and 5 position remain vacant.

The elections will take place on 4/11/17 from 7pm till 8pm at 1245 Lane Road Library.

PAC ELECTIONS

Przypominamy wszystkim że we wtorek 4/11/17 odbędą się wybory do Zarządu Polskiego Klubu w Columbus. Bardzo cieszymy się że członkowie Klubu staneli na wysokości zadania i zgłosili swoje kandydatury. W tym momencie lista kandydatów wygląd nstępująco:

President: Małgorzata Cymbał

Vice-President: Mike O’Shea

Secretary: Iwona Testani

Treasurer: Grzegorz Łęcki zgodził się kadydować po raz kolejny.

Trustee 1: Janet Baker ma jeszcze jeden rok swojej kadencji, zostaje więc w Zarządzie.

Trustee 2: Eliza Warzycha

Trustee 3: Bożena Stanek.

Trustee 4 and 5 pozostają nieobsadzone.

Wybory odbędą się 11 kwietnia 2017 roku, of 7 do 8 wieczorem na 1245 Lane Road Library.

Please, come and show your support for the future Board by casting your vote!

Sincerely,

Polish American Club Board of Trustees

President: Agnieszka Albrycht

Treasurer: Grzegorz Łęcki

Secretary Helena Rempała

Trustee: Janet Baker

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENTS

Of

Candidates for PAC Board of Trustees

2017

Candidate for the President

Małgorzata Cymbał

My name is Gosia Cymbal and I have been involved with the club for about 10 years. In the past I served as a board member, Vice President of the PAC, and I was responsible for Pacanów Polish School.

My goal as a President of Polish American Club is to bring all Polonia together and continue cultivation of traditions and customs of Poland.

Candidate for Vice-President

 Mike O’Shea

Although my last name doesn't suggest it, Poland is a huge part of my life.  My mother grew up in a Polish immigrant household and fortunately passed on many traditions to my siblings and me.  I studied Polish in college, so I can read and write fluently.  I am always looking for opportunities to improve my speaking!  I work with Gosia Cymbal and hope to have the opportunity to serve this Club with her too.

Candidate for Treasurer

 Grzegorz Łęcki

My background is in horticulture. I have always been involved in various organizations and students unions. Currently working for the Ohio State University as a program coordinator for student international exchanges. I have been helping PAC with books since 2013. For 2017 I hope to locate a candidate that would be willing to take over my responsibilities because I believe every democratic institution needs regular changes of its bureaucrats. I find volunteering for PAC fun, very rewarding and a fantastic opportunity to meet hard working and talented people!

Candidate for Secretary

 Iwona Testani

I am originally from Tarnów. I have lived in the States for thirty years, in Columbus for the last seventeen. I have been a member of the Club for around sixteen years. I have served on the Board in the past, as a trustee and an interim secretary.

Candidates for Trustees

Eliza Warzycha

I came to the United States in 1996 with my husband and three kids. I graduated from the University of Łódź with a degree in math but I devoted my life to soccer and being a mom and a wife. For the last 21 years my family has participated in the Polish-American club's life and now that my kids are on their own, I am ready to contribute more to the Club as a Trustee.

Bożena Stanek

I moved to Ohio in 2006. I live in Upper Arlington with my husband Krzysztof and two children, Mateusz (14) and Ala (10).  I was introduced to Polish community in Columbus from the very moment we moved here through Pacanów (Polish Language School for kids ), where my son and then daughter have attended.

Some of you may know that in September we hosted young researcher from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. I hope you will enjoy reading about her findings below.

With the support of Ohio State University I have been awarded the Kosciuszko Foundation’s scholarship, which allowed me to conduct the research in the United States for three months. The purpose of my research is to systematize the knowledge about Poles who greatly contributed to the American culture following the November Uprising and today are almost forgotten or completely unknown.

Study in Ohio turned out to be even more fruitful than I had originally expected, because I accessed valuable materials regarding many Polish emigrants, especially Martin Rosienkiewicz. He was an exile in the first massive deportation of Poles (1833) to the United States following the November Uprising and became the author of the first book for Poles in English in the United States, as well as the founder of the first Polish library in Philadelphia. He was famous as a teacher of drawing and painting in Ohio and Philadelphia (Rosienkiewicz also opened the first Polish school in the United States). With my own hands I dug up his gravestone in Cincinnati, which, according to the records of the cemetery, did not exist for over a hundred years.

I’m particularly thankful to the Polish American Club in Columbus for their kindness and assistance at every stage of my research. They took care of tombstone of Rosienkiewicz, a man who dedicated all his life in exile to helping other Poles.
My work here is more than scientific research, it is the mission of restoring Polish American history and achievements of Poles who, despite many difficulties, have been successful overseas. I hope that the fate and the works of many other Poles will be taken from the shadow of oblivion, just like a tombstone of Rosienkiewicz.

Note about Ewa Modzelewska: doctoral student of the Faculty of Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Kosciuszko Foundation’s grant recepient for the year 2016/2017. She is the author of the work entitled August Antoni Jakubowski – the poet of despair. The life and work. It is the first monograph of works by Jakubowski who was sent to the United States in 1833, where he wrote The Remembrances of a Polish Exile that is the first synthesis of Polish history and at the same time the first anthology of Polish poetry translated into English and published in the US. Ewa Modzelewska is also the editor of the first edition of the American novel entitled Major Aleksander written by Jakubowski.

We encourage you to take a historical trip and visit the grave. Ewa provided us with detailed information on the location at the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. The grave is in Sector 40, Lot, 73. Here is the plan of the cementary, click to zoom.

Here is a detailed plan of Lot 73

 And here is the picture of the gravestone that Ewa literally dug up from the weeds that completly covered it. The flag was set there by Ewa as well.

If you visit, leave some flowers or a candle and share the picture with us!

Ewa, thank you for visiting us and for providing us with this material to publish here. You are always most welcome to visit again!

Friends,

As many of you are well aware, Saint Mary Church has been damaged and is in a dire need of restoration. PAC has established a special account to collect money for the restoration All money collected via this button will be forwarded to the Church.