Quo Vadis Calgary 2012: Integration International Youth Leadership Conference

C a l g a r y 201 2 Quo Vadis Calgary 2012: Integration International Youth Leadership Conference Canmore & Calgary, Alberta, Canada August 17 - 19, 2012 www.quovadiscalgary2012.com 1 2 Leer from the Chair Dear Delegates, Speakers, and Disnguished Guests, More than four years ago two movated individuals had an idea and sparked a movement. The Quo Vadis Conference series have become a staple in Polonia communies not only in Canada but internaonally and I am proud to say that I am a part of this inspiraonal showcase of pride, character and movaon. Almost a year ago we began organizing the Quo Vadis Calgary 2012: Integraon, Internaonal Youth Leadership Conference and it has been one of the most amazing experiences I have ever encountered. For the first me ever the Quo Vadis Conference has occurred outside of Ontario and we are happy to share our home with you. Alberta is known for its cultural diversity, strong economy, breath taking landscapes and versale environment. Edmonton and Calgary are amongst Canada’s most prominent metropolitan areas and home to the second largest Polish community in Canada. Polish-Canadians have invested themselves strongly in Albertan society for over a century, contribung at the highest levels in culture, business, development, and polics. Alberta’s large Polish populaon has allowed for numerous clubs and organizaons to flourish, all dedicated to emphasizing Polish heritage and history. Now here we are, a young Polonia, contribung to the efforts of those who came before us. It is now our duty to integrate the knowledge that has been passed down, tweak it, and apply it to the contemporary sociees we live in. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who aended our conference; thank you to the delegates who are the future of a prosperous Polonia community, thank you to all our speakers who are an inspiraon and the role models that we look up to, thank you to our honorary advisors who make sure we are always on track and movate us to connue working as hard as we can, and thank you to our disnguished guests who took the me out of their busy schedules to be with us and share in the pride we have for our work. Finally, I would like to thank all the members of our execuve team who put in countless hours into compleng all tasks with finesse and without hesitaon or complaint. Without you this conference could never be the success it is. We sincerely hope you enjoyed the conference weekend, learned and absorbed as much as possible, socialized and networked. Remember that we are the future. Don’t ever forget where you came from but never stop quesoning where you are going, Quo Vadis? Sincerely, Natalia Dmuchowska Chair 3 Rafter Six Ranch Quo Vadis Calgary 2012: Integration Sunday, August 19, 2012International Youth Leadership Conference 4 Quo Vadis: From the beginning... As the co-founders of the iniave, Kamil Mróz and Magda Sulzycka were asked a few quesons to give our delegates an idea on how Quo Vadis came into existence. This is what they had to say: Why create QV, and how did its creaon come about? "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." Marn Luther King Jr. Kamil: Energized by a backpacking trip across South America, I returned to Canada wanng to make my last year count with the Polish Students’ Society at the University Of Oawa (PSSUO). I proposed the idea at a meeng, but I didn't get much of a response, except from Magda, one of the people that I counted on the most since we had already worked together before with great success. We agreed that we would do this on one condion, that we would not let each other fail. We were pung a lot on the line. Imagine booking a hotel for a couple of thousand dollars upfront on your personal credit card (which Magda did) without having any revenue or sponsorship at the me. That's how much we trusted each other. We promised not to let each other down, but above all not let Polonia down. Knowing that we were about to embark on a journey into the unknown was exhilarang, but at the same me unseling. It was an uphill climb and every step of the way it was a learning process because no one had ever done this before. Nevertheless, we were convinced that if we didn't start thinking about the future with a vision of unity, inclusion and parcipaon of youth in the decision-making process of Polonia, the efforts of previous generaons, like our veterans (SPK), would not be sustained for the benefit of future generaons. Like a great American President once said "It's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potenal". That's exactly what happened; we realized our true potenal as leaders, but also the true potenal of the young generaon in Polonia as leaders. Magda: Truth be told, my desire to create QV was one that spawned from my addicon of taking on large projects. Thankfully, my Polish Students' Society at the University of Oawa (PSSUO) co-president, Kamil, was just as eager to take this on and, since we knew this would be our culminang contribuon for Polish students aer four years at the University of Oawa. Things evolved rather organically from there. We were able to build off of one another's enthusiasm, and eventually, as the team got larger, build off the great ideas and excitement that the other organizers (Andrzej Antoszkiewicz, Ania Barycka, Marta Janczerska, and Artur Zdziechowski) brought to the project. You could have organized a conference rela3ng to any topic, so why Polonia? Magda: My senments towards community can be summed up in the words of John Paul II: "Anything done for another is done for oneself." To a certain extent, everything I do in Polonia, I do for me, and whatever I have "done" for Polonia has been returned to me three mes over. The incredible support I received and connue to receive from members of the community, the experiences I have had, and the friendships I have made are worth much more than the hours spent working on QV or other Polonia projects. When I first jumped on the QV train four years ago, I saw it as an excing new project; now I see it as one of the smartest life investments I have ever made. And at the end of the day, I just love being a part of this community. 5 Kamil: Since the beginning the idea of Quo Vadis went deeper than just being a conference. Quo Vadis proposed an empowering experience 'for young people by young people' to rise above the challenges we were facing as young people. It was through the sharing of best pracces, discussing pressing issues and above all honing our leadership skills that we could overcome those challenges. Not only does QV represent a new way of thinking in Polonia, but also aims to tackle some fundamental problems that were not being addressed by the mainstream organizaons. For instance the lack of foresight to include young people in the decision making process, the bierness (pey polics) between Polonia organizaons, and the atude of certain individuals to belile other just to make a name for themselves. Not to menon, that there were certain people in the community whose myopic vision and divisive mentality were drowning out the legimate voices in Polonia, which wasn't moving us forward as a community and also discouraging young people from geng involved. This type of mentality was slowly chipping away at the strength and resilience of the Polish community. We were convinced that this needed to change. In order to rise above this type of mentality and propose real soluons based on a vision of unity, collaboraon and inclusion, we proposed Quo vadis, a vision that recognized and celebrated our history, but focused on where we were going as a community – literally Quo Vadis? What was your role in the project? Magda: Our whole PSSUO team was involved in the event planning process, pitching and expanding on other people's ideas. Throughout the project, many of our roles intertwined. Nevertheless, there was definitely a natural division of roles that occurred as we began to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses. My chief focus was the logiscal aspect of the conference, that being booking venues, securing locaons, handling catering, ordering materials, and so on. My team comprised three individuals: me, Marta Janczerska, and Artur Zdziechowski, two junior execuve members of the Polish Students' Society of the University of Oawa. They were my two le hands at that me... but not in the Polish "dwie lewe ręce" sense; I'm le-handed, so what I very inarculately mean to say is that they were invaluable to both me and the project. Further to that, I was very heavily supported by Prof. Richard Sokoloski of the University of Oawa's Department of Modern Languages and Literature who, in his humble nature, to this day refuses to acknowledge how significant a QV contributor he really is. I also worked with a number of officials of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, most notably Artur Michalski (currently the Director of the Eastern Department of Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs) whose unwavering support throughout the project was absolutely astounding. Again, both these individuals played an integral role in the logiscal shaping of the event.

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