International Student Project

During the 2020/2021 summer semester, thanks to the collaboration between the University of Gdańsk and the University of Michigan-Dearborn, our 3rd year History students had the opportunity to work closely with American students. The project was supervised by professor Anna Mazurkiewicz (UG) and professor Anna Muller (U of Michigan-Dearborn) with the help of mgr Iwona Flis (UG) and mgr Anna Podciborska (UG). Divided into small, international groups, the students have been communicating for several weeks, conducting a collective historical research and supplementing it with related personal stories and experiences. As a result, they created podcasts and presentations, some of which were shown during a project finale held on the Zoom Platform, where they analyzed and discussed Polish historical sites and figures, monuments, the post-war destruction in Gdańsk and the reconstruction of the city, the memory of WWII in the city and the countryside, the place of the Holocaust in contemporary Polish education, as well as the different and changing maritime cultures of Gdańsk-Sopot-Gdynia. The effects of this project were very satisfactory both to the supervisors and to the students. Throughout the project, our students not only proved themselves to be knowledgeable about Poland and the city of Gdańsk’s history, but also exhibited their communication skills, foreign language competence, planning, negotiating and organizational abilities, effective teambuilding and teamwork. Although the international project was challenging, our students admitted it was a great learning experience that, for some, also resulted in friendships.