At First the Most Important Things

Relationships

The headteacher Anna Sobala-Zbroszczyk welcomed everyone solemnly and reminded that we have been celebrating the school’s 35th year of operation. 2^nd SLO Jasienica High School was created from a dream of a better world, where school is a place where students are treated subjectively, teachers pursue their passions, and parents are convinced that their child is in intelligent and caring hands. The source of 2ndSLO ‘s success – one of the best schools in Poland – is the care for mutual relationships, mutual understanding and mutual listening. Anna Sobala-Zbroszczyk encouraged further care for the community and mutual relations and emphasized their fundamental importance for the good functioning of 2^nd SLO.

People

The inauguration of the school year was honored with the presence of the president of STO, Krystyna Norwa, and the first headmaster of 2^nd SLO, Aureliusz Leżeński.

Everything flows

Aureliusz Leżeński delivered the inaugural lecture, in which he talked about the history of the school, the revolutionary technological changes affecting its community and the dilemmas regarding future education.

Coral reef

The first principal of the school compared 2^nd SLO to a coral reef and the students to schools of colorful fish. The reef is a sensitive ecosystem that requires specific, growth-friendly conditions.

External environment

2^nd SLO has had 35 years behind her, which means incredible technological changes. The beginning is an ebonite telephone in the rectory in Rakowiec, or the first computer and command entries in DOS. Now we all function in a parallel virtual world where artificial intelligence can perform written tasks or produce static and moving images on request. We even expect the world of artificial intelligence to merge with the world of biology.

What about the future?

Aureliusz Leżeński raised the issue of choices for the future of students “flowing” to 2^nd SLO. He found inspiration in the ancient Greek world, namely in Archilachus of Paros ‘s poems, in which he stated that a person has a tendency to be a fox or a hedgehog, that is, either to quickly find oneself in a changing reality and adapt, or to analyze things deeply and become an expert. In turn, he received a hint from artificial intelligence about his future profession, namely an “prompt engineer”, i.e. a person asking the right questions. Perhaps it will be a profession in which specialist knowledge, language proficiency, creative thinking and ethical awareness will be necessary.

Summing up the lecture, Aureliusz Leżeński encouraged students to think about their own goals and to constantly verify their knowledge and confront their beliefs.

Strength and Stability

Krystyna Norwa, the president of STO, referred to the metaphor of a coral reef and compared the Warsaw Educational Society to the environment in which the reef develops. The president emphasized the merits of the association’s members, primarily the parents who care about the stability of 2^nd SLO, but also the current headteacher – Anna Sobala-Zbroszczyk, whom she recommended to the care of the entire school community.

About Toil and Spontaneous Joy

Coordinator Tomasz Mazur spoke through the mouth of Anna Sobala-Zbroszczyk and looked at the life of the school community through the eyes of Seneca. Following Lucius Seneca the Younger, who wrote in “Moral Letters to Lycilius”: “Only unnecessary things require toil,” he analyzed the ancient message from a modern perspective. In the daily pursuit of external goals, we lose things that give our lives deep value: school with fascinating people, exchange of ideas, being together, our being that is a mystery to itself, or a kaleidoscope of reality. If we lose the sight of what is the most important, what is at our fingertips, i.e. relationships, the joy of knowing, shared emotions and admiration for the world, all our goals will also fade and become just drudgery. The coordinator therefore wished us to notice what is important and available here and now, every day, and to experience spontaneous joy.

About Debating and Being Committed

At the end, the secretary general of the JASMUN conference encouraged students to participate in the October edition of the simulation of the UN conference.

(text: Beata Ciacek; zdjęcia: Beata Ciacek i Agnieszka Magiera)