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One of the points of the integration event was a meeting at the Starak Family Foundation, during which the scholarship holders and scholarship recipients, while taking part in workshops on contemporary art and science sensu stricto, could better understand the Jerzy Starak’s (the founder’s) motto: "Science is a great art! Scientists and artists are united by their passion to create, to discover, to seek answers to as yet unasked questions".

 

 

Representatives of both fields spoke about their enormous impact on intellectual, cognitive and social development: attorney Grzegorz Kotowski, Member of the Board of the Starak Family Foundation, Agata Łapińska, President of the Polpharma Scientific Foundation, Ania Muszyńska, Curator of Spectra Art Space and the Starak Collection, Zuzanna Zasacka, an educator at „Zachęta" National Art Gallery who conducts workshops on contemporary art, scientists and biotechnologists from Polpharma Biologics: Prof. Tomasz Grabowski, PhD, and Dr. Rafał Derlacz.

 

Attorney Grzegorz Kotowski, a Member of the Board of the Starak Family Foundation, referred to the six-year history of cooperation between the two foundations and the role of scholarships that can change the lives of young people.

 

 

 

Agata Łapińska, President of the Polpharma Scientific Foundation, appeared at the meeting virtually due to her earlier activities. Through a quiz, she told the scholarship recipients about what Polpharma does as Poland's largest producer of medicines and pharmaceuticals. She also shared Jerzy Starak's big dreams with the audience.

 

 

 

 - It was so inspiring to know that everything is possible in life. Now we can look at our mental journey from our small towns to the capital in a different way and appreciate the opportunity offered by participation in the Programme," said the Olsztyn scholarship holders

 

 

Ania Muszyńska, the Curator of Spectra Art Space and Starak Collection, talked about working with a private art collection and making it available to individual visitors and institutions. The scholarship holders were able to view objects from the collection, forming a representative overview of Polish art created from 1945 to the present. It is the only space in Warsaw presenting works created during the above period.

 

 

 

Zuzanna Zasacka, an educator who conducts workshops on contemporary art, continued the grantees' workshop with the collection. The educator selected works by Wojciech Fangor and Ryszard Winiarski from the collection, proving to the audience the strong link between art and the queen of sciences - mathematics.

 

 

The students played the author's game, referring to Winiarski's works from the Starak Collection among others: „Gra nr 7” or "Game No. 7" from 1976, „Penetracja przestrzeni realnej z równym prawdopodobieństwem występowania koloru czarnego i białego. Zmienna losowa – kostka do gry” or  "Penetration of real space with equal probability of black and white. A random variable - a dice" from 1972. As an engineer and artist, Ryszard Wianiarski was inspired by game theory, probability calculus and statistics.

  

 

In the scientific part of the workshop, the scholarship holders met with Prof. Tomasz Grabowski and Dr. Rafał Derlacz, scientists, biotechnologists from Polpharma Biologics. The concept of the workshop was to talk about passions and discoveries, about science that happens alongside us and that brings help. The presenters talked about the role and value of the specialisations that the scholarship holders will choose in high school and university, shaping their development.

 

 

 

- The nearly 70 young people we had the opportunity to meet are the intellectual top of the youth. I have no doubt about that. I met young people, not only with high academic achievements, but also very mature socially. They are the best investment in our common future," concluded Professor Tomasz Grabowski.

 

 

Whichever path the scholarship holders choose, it will be the best one, because it will be their own. Thank you for your time together, full of inspiration at the Starak Family Foundation.