Rossford Schools Welcomed Anna and Ella from Poland
by Jeff Taylor
Welcome Anna and Ella to Rossford Schools
On March 16th Anna Romaniak and Elzbieta Sudol-Wasyliszyn (Ella) arrived in Rossford, Ohio. Both of them are educators with Stalowa Wola Schools in Poland. Anna is an English Teacher and Ella is an Elementary School Principal.
They were in NW Ohio for two weeks and had a wide variety of experiences. In Rossford, they spent time in all of the schools and were able to visit many classrooms. The students really enjoyed talking with them and asking them questions about schools in Poland. There were two questions that we thought were very funny. The first question was asked by a fourth grader that wanted to know if girls in Poland like the Jonas Brothers! The second question by a student at Indian Hills was a favorite of Anna's. The student asked, "Do people in Poland not trust the Russians as much as we don't?" Considering that Poland was under Russian Communist control for many years, the answer was a firm, "YES!"
Our visitors were taken to a fish fry at the Eagles Club, Tony Packo's, The Toledo Zoo, The Toledo Art Museum, Lourdes College, and many of the schools in Toledo Public Schools. They were even given a tour of the Wood County Sheriff's offices- notice the similarity of Ella's last name. We thought they may be related in some way.
Ella and Anna really enjoyed their time here and we often joked about a way to let Anna stay in Rossford and be a teacher. They were really shocked at all of the technology in the schools and how the teachers integrate the technology into their lessons. Ella was able to help with a lesson on the SMARTboard in Mrs. Pratt's first grade class. They were impressed with how much our students knew about technology and computers and that many of them could manipulate the SMARTboards during a lesson.
I want to thank everyone for helping out during their visit. Our parent club helped with several meals, Dr. Lang hosted a dinner at her house, and Mr. Stan Kobylak gave up several of his days to take our visitors around town. If you don't know Mr. Kobylak, he is Spencer Kobylak's grandfather and he speaks fluent Polish. He was extremely helpful during Anna and Ella's visit and he spent a lot of time with them. Thank you so much Mr. Kobylak, you really made their visit a huge success! I would also like to thank the students and staff of Eagle Point for welcoming our guests into our school. The staff made food for lunch and was very understanding during our classroom visits. It took a great amount of teamwork to make their visit successful and it was greatly appreciated.
Please look at the slide show picture below.
