Polk County High School teachers Jacque Brown-Williams, theatre arts instructor, and Donna Everett, English instructor, spent the first two weeks of July teaching in the Kosciuszko Foundation’s Teaching English in Poland Program.

Each summer, 50 American teachers and teaching assistants volunteer to teach Polish students ages 8 – 18, in either the Arts Enriched English Language Camps or the English Language American Culture Camp. The American staff receives no funding or stipends for their travel or teaching.

This summer, Brown-Williams and Everett taught together at the newest TEIP camp in Otwock, Poland outside of Warsaw, the Polish capital. Otwock is the home of Irena Sendler, often called the ‘Female Schindler’ for her daring rescues of more than 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. In honor of Sendler’s life, Everett, the theatre teacher for the camp, had the advanced students perform a section from the play “Life in a Jar” based on Sendler’s life.

This was the first year for Everett to teach in Poland, but Brown-Williams returned for her seventh year with the program. Otwock was her fourth camp; other camps she has taught at include Pryztok in western Poland, Załęcze in south central Poland and Barlewiczki in northern Poland. This year, Brown-Williams taught American folk dance and was the assistant director.