PDF, 1.06MB - Lithuanian-American Community, Inc.

SEPTEMBER 2015
6
This year’s LISS program participants together with Program Coordinator Ina Stankevičienė.
Photos: Liss program archives
Once in a Lifetime!
DALIA CIDZIKAITĖ
The title of this article is not an allusion to the
Talking Heads song from 1980 “Once in a Lifetime,” which is included in the list of the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs that Shaped
Rock and Roll.” I heard these words from Daniela
Šablinskas, a Canadian-Lithuanian who visited
Lithuania this summer as part of the Lithuanian
International Student Services (LISS) program
sponsored by the American Lithuanian Community.
his year I met 15 young people like Daniela,
who is currently studying neurology at Carleton University. These young people had
the opportunity to spend six weeks in the homeland
of their parents and grandparents and gain some
experience in their chosen professions. All of them
felt the same as she did: they had experienced
something extraordinary, gained more self-confidence, increased their knowledge of the Lithuanian
language, and while becoming stronger as Lithuanians, they had gotten the priceless chance to put
into practice what they had learned at their universities.
Samantha Grigas is studying geography and
anthropology at the University of Southern Maine.
She had the opportunity to come into contact with
T
DRAUGAS NEWS
said Dovilė. “Maybe that is why the workers accepted
our proposal so enthusiastically.”
These two young ladies were not the only ones
whose work caught everybody’s attention. Žygimantas Kataržis, who is studying electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago,
helped install audio-signals into the traffic lights
in Vilnius this summer. When he returns to the
capital next year, he will be able to enjoy the results
of his labors.
This summer the group of 15 college students
was supplemented by eight high school students,
who studied Lithuanian at the Language School of
Klaipėda University. They also did volunteer work
at the Botanical Gardens and the Sea Museum of
Klaipėda University. All of them are Americans
with Lithuanian roots. They came to Lithuania
from places as far away as Puerto Rico.
The high school students had a lot of new experiences: they got to make potato pancakes with
Sigita Šimkuvienė, the president of the American
Lithuanian Community, they saw the dolphin show
at the Sea Museum, and they even got to shake
hands with President Dalia Grybauskaitė!
The LISS program was founded in 2004 by the
late Birutė Bublienė. Four years later it became
part of the activities of the American Lithuanian
Community. It has become one of the most successful
projects undertaken by this organization. The program seeks to put the vision of Birutė Bublienė
into practice. This year Ina Stankevičienė was the
coordinator of the program, while Auksė Motto
worked with the high school students.
At the inception of the LISS program, Draugas
correspondent Aurelija Tamošiūnaitė spoke with
Birutė Bublienė. Bublienė was convinced that the
internship program for college and high school students would be an excellent opportunity for them
to challenge themselves by living on their own in
Lithuania. It would also provide them an opportunity
to gain experience in a specific field and a chance
to develop contacts with Lithuanian specialists, scientists and businessmen. An internship in Lithuania
would be a way to strengthen knowledge of the
Lithuanian language, not only by improving everyday conversational Lithuanian, but also by teaching
Lithuanian terminology for specific fields of study.
In addition, an internship in Lithuania would provide the interns with an excellent opportunity to
become familiar with the cultural life of Lithuania,
to travel around the country, to learn various traditions, to make friends and to find common ground
with the young people in the country. This summer’s
interns were able to experience all of this and
more.
Samantha Grigas — LISS is a hands on program.
the past in a very real way — one of her assignments
was to collect and categorize bones of people who
had lived several centuries ago.
Dovilė Svirupskaitė is studying political science
at Western Illinois University, while Gabrielė Bieliauskaitė is in the international studies program
at Denison University.
Both of them were happy
to get some practical experience at two different
government institutions:
the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania and
the City Council of Vilnius. The young ladies
had the opportunity to
meet the new mayor of
Vilnius, Remigijus Šimašius. They also came
up with a Best Worker
of the Month Contest.
The winner would be allowed to park next to the
mayor’s car. “It is odd
that the Vilnius City government has not had
such contests before,”
LISS high school students Sarah Radtke and John Paul Pecinskaswith the President of
Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, during the Sea Festival in Klaipėda.
Dovilė Svirupskaitė and Gabrielė Bieliauskaitė
You can find more information about the Liss program here:
http://lithuanian-american.org/m/lt/ /stazuoteliss/apie-liss/
the impressions of the high school students can be found on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/1585605711681106/