2023 FLEX Alumni Mentoring Program
Take part in the FLEX Alumni Mentoring Program organized by American Councils for International Education and the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. Gain new skills and an opportunity to finance your own social or personal development project!
This is a program for alumni of the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program. Supported by mentors, the participants will be developing leadership and project management skills for six months. The program offers two paths to choose from: working on your own community service project or personal development. This is a unique chance to gain specific skills and new contacts that might be useful in your future education and career.
Why take part?
Participation in the FLEX Alumni Mentoring Program is free of charge and includes:
Guidance from an individual mentor who will work with you in your personal development and help you create and implement your own community service or personal development project. Mentors will come from an elite group of alumni of the U.S. Department of State exchange programs including Fulbright Program, International Visitor Leadership Program and other. They can offer you a completely different perspective than your parents or teachers and help connect you with other professionals.
Two-day training in Warsaw, where you will gain the necessary knowledge about identifying social problems, creating projects, and implementing them in your local community. The training will be also an opportunity to meet U.S. Embassy diplomats and share experience with other participants.
A possibility of winning funds for your own community service or personal development project. One of the benefits of cooperation with a mentor can be a joint project focused around social issues that are important to you and your community. It can be a school, housing, urban and even nationwide project. The best proposals for these projects will be financed by the U.S. government. You can also choose to work with a mentor on your personal development and then apply for funding for training, participation in conferences, etc.
Who are the mentors?
Alumni of such U.S. Government funded exchange programs as Fulbright Program, International Visitor Leadership Program and other. This is a prestigious group of people who have professional experience and are leaders in their communities. They have experience in implementing short and long-term projects and often are social activists who want to share their skills and passion with younger colleagues. They represent various fields: national and local government, non-governmental organizations, education, business, culture and more.
To become a mentor please click here.
Who are our mentees?
FLEX alumni who are high school or university students who are or would like to be active in their local communities and use their U.S. experience in their hometowns.
To become a mentee please click here.
Important dates:
Application: 5 – 27 January 2023
Notification: 10 February 2023
Kick-off event and training for mentors and mentees: 6 - 7 March 2023 (training in-person)
Mentoring: March – November 2023
Implementation of small grants/local community actions: March – November 2023
Meet our trainers:
Joanna Hoffman
"Direction: Development" is the name of her company and her personal motto. "Since 2008 I have been working across Europe as an independent trainer in developing, coordinating and leading events and educational initiatives.''
Joanna holds a master's degree in Sociology in Applied Social Sciences. Joanna has also completed a number of specialist courses to educate herself as a trainer, such as the European Training Strategy's Trainer Skills Workshop: "Exploring learning environments in training," the "Discover the power of Outdoors" trainer training in Ireland, "Developing digital youth work" in Finland, and many others. Joanna was also a speaker at the conference "Children and youth on the net" in Luxembourg.
Joanna also has extensive experience as a trainer, among other things, she was a tutor for library teams in the ,,Blisko'' program at the National Cultural Center, conducted trainings for the Social Communication Center of the Warsaw City Hall, worked as an educator at the Central House of Technology, and worked as a trainer at FRSE, the Polish National Agency of the "European Solidarity Corps" Program. It is worth mentioning that Joanna also has experience in working with young people. She has led workshops as part of the Academy of Young Leaders, youth councils and workshops on local participation. Now Joanna Hoffman will conduct workshops for us as part of the Alumni Mentoring Program.
We encourage you to ask about her experience, she will certainly be happy to share her knowledge with us.
Katarzyna Szajda
Katarzyna Szajda is a trainer and a facilitator, who believes in the process, feedback and focusing on potential. Kasia has a MA degree in Economy, European Integration and Economy, International Trade. She has also finished a Certified Open Space Technology Training in Berlin and Certified Long Term Training for trainers in Business.
Katarzyna is also a translator in English and Czech language. What is more, Katarzyna works in a project management, she does complex preparation, implementation and evaluation of educational, social and cultural projects. As a facilitator, Katarzyna worked for UNESCO headquater in Paris, European Commission and its representations in Poland, Check Republic, Slovakia, Italy and Ireland. Also, she worked for the Polish and Czech Ministry of Education and Environment, as well as local and regional municipalities.
Katarzyna also conducts trainings in various fields, such as intercultural communication, personal development, coaching and mentoring tools, project management, evaluation, leadership and participation.
We’re looking forward to hearing more about her experience and learn from her during our FLEX Alumni Mentoring Program 2023!
The FLEX Alumni Mentoring Program is funded by U.S. Embassy Warsaw and administered by American Councils for International Education.
Program Information