Megan Pawlowski and Sarah Berendt Winners of PACT 2012 Scholarships
The winners of the 2012 PACT scholarships are Sarah Berendt and Megan Pawlowski. Each will receive $500 toward their education. Congratulations to both of them! It was very difficult to pick two winners this year because all of the applicants were very deserving. Thank you to all who applied.
Megan Pawlowski is a student at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Her honors included a Gateway Scholarship in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. She also received the Dean’s scholarship in 2012, Megan is on the Ohio University Equestrian team, is a member of the Student Social Work Association, the Phi Alpha Social Work Honor Society and the Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society. She also plays intramural volleyball and works with the Foster Care Paws & Whiskers cat shelter in the summer.
Sarah Berendt is a student at Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio. Sara was a 2011 HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) national qualifier. She received the excellence award in 2011, the work habits award in 2011 and 2012 and received a varsity letter in scholastic achievement in 2011. Sara has been a Red Cross volunteer since 2009 and a youth ministry volunteer since 2009. She is also a National Honor Society member.
Please read Sara and Megan’s essays “What Having a Polish-American Heritage Means To Me” which are below:
“What Having a Polish-American Heritage Means to Me”
by
Megen Pawlowski
“Without struggle, ther is no progress” my dad whispered to me. I questioned his statement, how could that have anything to do with my Polish heritage? Then it dawned on me, the life of my grandfather, Walter Pawlowski, and his survival of a WWII Polish work camp. My grandfather was an admirable Polish man; he loved everything about his culture, the language, the people, the food. After the war ended, my grandfather and grandmother lived in a relocation camp, where my father, Gerald, was born. My grandfather knew that he had to push through those hardships to provide a better life for his son and wife and was determined to do so.
That life began with an ocean voyage from Germany with my grandfather in one compartment of the ship, with the male passengers, and my grandmother and father, then a four year old child, in another. They came to Toledo, settled among Polish immigrants, struggled to learn a new language and began their new life, my grandfather working hard to support his family. One of the proudest days of his life was when he, his wife and young son became naturalized citizens of the United States. But Polish culture was always integrated into family life. Attending St. Adalbert’s, going to Polish Mass, cooking Polish foods, especially pigs-in-a-blanket, his favorite meal, and speaking Polish to his family, which grew to four children, were all important. Raising his children, keeping them happy and involved in their heritage was something my grandpa took great pride in and continued with his grandchildren, including me. I still remember the smell of his cologne, his tender voice throwing Polish words into almost every sentence. “Prosze dac mi buziaka,” (give me a kiss) my grandfather would ask me. Although he is now gone, our family still lives with Polish roots.
My father is much like him. He is a strong man, a hard worker, and provided all his life for his family too. Commitment to family, friends, respect for his past and always working towards bettering life for his family defines him. We still enjoy all the Polish foods a Christmas and sprinkle Polish words throughout our conversations during family times. However, without struggle there is no progress and without the hardships my grandfather endured, my family would not be here today. My family would not enjoy the joys and privileges of being Americans, of living in a country my grandfather used to proclaim was “the greatest country on earth!” if it had not been for his courage to fight for a better life, not only for himself, but for all of us. I miss him dearly now, after his passing, but in every way my family, especially myself, can still live through his Polish roots.
“What Having a Polish-American Heritege Means to Me”
by
Sarah Berendt
Fear quickly gripped my stomach as we hit turbulence above the great Atlantic Ocean. I knew this would be the trip of a lifetime but to the mind of a 10 year old, the only thought present was that I was leaving my home, my friends, my school and my life to reside in a foreign country for an entire month.
My family and I traveled to Klaipeda, Lithuania in 2005 to Lithuania Christian College where my dad was to teach economics for 4 weeks. I was excited to be somewhere new and I was eager to learn but I had never fathomed the lessons that the trip would teach and the doors that would be opened to me simply from learning about my roots and where my family came from.
I had the wonderful privilege to travel around Lithuania learning not only about my heritage but European history as well. As I viewed battlegrounds and ancient castles, the birthplace of my grandmother in Vilnius, and the hill of crosses near the border of Latvia, my mind was expanded as I learned about the history of my family and how I came to exist.
My grandfather was born in Brest-Litovsk in, at the time, Poland, to a strict military family. His father was an army officer in the Polish army and at the time of my grandfather’s birth, was stationed at a fort in Brest-Litovsk. My grandfather was destined to become a soldier and was 14 years old when World War II started and was on the last train escaping Warsaw to a refugee camp in Romania. Using forged documents, they escaped to France, England, and then Scotland. When he graduated school, he was drafted and fought in the infantry and anti-aircraft regiments. In 1945, he was demilitarized and traveled to London, England where he would later meet my grandmother.
My grandmother was born in Vilnius, Poland (now Lithuania) and was working in an officer’s canteen durning WWII later she met my grandfather in London and my Aunt Basia was born in 1954. When Basia was three years old, the family moved to America, resided in Yonkers, NY and there my dad was born in 1962.
To me, having a Polish-American heritage means freedom. My family history makes me proud, and the bravery of my grandparents only inspires me to succeed even more in my life. I am lucky to be an American and I am proud of it but I will never lose my Polish heritage. My dad has ensured that I grow up knowing Polish traditions and I am ecstatic to share about Wigilia at Christmas and to sing in Polish at every birthday celebration. My trip to Europe has inspired me greatly but nothing can ever encourage me more than the sacrafice that my grandparents made so that I could have a peaceful life in America, so that I have the freedom to be proud of them and my heritage.
