The ceremony of presenting diplomas and prizes to the winners of the 11th Entrepreneurship Olympics took place in Warsaw School of Economics on June 13. The best students have also been admitted to the state economic universities. During the ceremony the slogan of the next edition of the contest – "Leadership in business" – was announced.
The Entrepreneurship Olympics is one of the biggest thematic competitions in Poland. Over 17,000 students from 1,051 high schools from all over Poland applied to participate in its 11th edition. The winner was Konrad Grabowicz from Jan and Jędrzej Śniadecki High School No 6 in Bydgoszcz. The ceremony held on June 13 was attended by 25 best contestants, as well as their teachers, school principals and representatives of the Olympics Partners and economic universities acting as the co-organizers of the contest.
“Your presence here is also a birthday gift for Warsaw School of Economics, as it is celebrating its 110th anniversary,” WSE Rector Prof. Tomasz Szapiro said in his welcome address. Also Prof. Ryszard Kokoszczyński, a member of the Board of the National Bank of Poland, the Olympics Strategic Partner, congratulated the winners. He noted that long-term investing in economic education of young people is very important for the National Bank of Poland. Addressing the students’ tutors he pointed out to the fact that “no words could make teachers pleased more than they are when watching their students’ progress.”
“As a Foundation, we try to support those initiatives that help people become valuable citizens who think of the world that is outside their narrow professional interests,” Radosław Jasiński of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, the Olympics Strategic Partner said speaking about the need to invest not only in young people’s knowledge and skills but first of all in their attitudes. “Invest your time well and do not complain. Remember the Chinese proverb that says ‘don’t complain that the task is hard, that you have to climb the mountain, because you are going to be on its top,” he added congratulating the winners.
Prof. Piotr Płoszajski, the head of the Department of Management Theory at WSE gave a lecture on “The Praise of Imperfection. Innovation in the times of New Economy, the Internet, Things and Heretics”. Moreover, principals of the best high schools were presented with letters of congratulations from Speaker of Polish Senate Stanisław Karczewski.
Receiving the prizes, Konrad Grabowicz, the winner of the 11th edition said: “Participation in the gala and satisfaction with the results achieved are the best compensation of the efforts and preparations I had to make. I also hope that winning the prize will mean the next step in my adventure with entrepreneurship and economics”. Katarzyna Sobczak, the winner’s tutor as well as the tutor of the student that ranked second, confessed: “I am proud that the Horace’s Latin phrase sapere aude – dare to think – which is used in our school’s logo was implemented and realized by our graduates, Konrad and Nikodem”.
For the list of winners visit www.olimpiada.edu.pl
The Entrepreneurship Olympics is an all-Poland three-stage competition for high school students. The project is aimed at popularization of entrepreneurship among young people. The scope of knowledge needed for the competition includes economy, management, psychology and business practice. The students have the opportunity to present their knowledge and skills filling in tests, preparing a presentation, working in a team on a case study and writing an essay.
The Olympics agenda and Rules and Regulations can be found at: www.olimpiada.edu.pl.
The economic universities which co-organize the competition, that is Warsaw School of Economics and economic universities in Katowice, Kraków, Poznań and Wrocław offered the finalists and winners of the Olympics making the qualification procedure significantly easier for them. Additionally, the best contestants received attractive prizes, whereas all students qualified to the district stage were entitled to attend an e-learning course on setting up a business, received books published by Difin Publishing House and an invitation to take the exam to obtain a YoungMBA Certificate.
Also the winners’ teachers and schools received prizes. The tutors received prizes as valuable as the winners, while their schools received the publication packages which shall help their students prepare to next edition of the Olympics. The Olympics special award, funded by Plagiat.pl, the voucher worth PLN 5,000 for a digital equipment needed by the school, was awarded by way of drawing to one of the schools qualified to the second stage, and all schools qualified to the second stage received a 50% discount for the one-year license for the “Antyściąga” plagiarism check system and the system implementation from the Plagiat.pl company. Additionally, 25 schools from which the biggest number of participants applied to the Olympics were awarded with a publication on the subject related to the slogan of the Olympics’ 11th edition.
The results of the Entrepreneurship Olympics have been considered in the All-Poland High Schools Ranking prepared by the Rzeczpospolita daily in cooperation with Perspektywy weekly.
The Olympics is co-financed by the National Bank of Poland and the Polish-American Freedom Foundation acting as the Olympics Strategic Partners, and supported by the grant from the Ministry of National Education.
The Olympics is supported among others by Difin Publishing House, Plagiat.pl, the Educational Enterprise Foundation, the Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation, Polish Chamber of Commerce, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, the Employers of Poland, the Polish Economic Society, the Association of Enterprise Teachers and Economic Education and the Student Forum Business Centre Club. The media patrons are Głos Nauczycielski, Perspektywy.pl, NBPortal and Interklasa.
