– This is my greatest success achieved so far – said Dariusz Makaruk, unable to hide his surprise. – I didn’t expect to win. When I found out I was in the final, I thought it would be cool to be in the top ten. The final took place on my eighteenth birthday, so you could say that I gave myself studies at my dream university as a gift.
Dariusz’s victory was predictable almost from the beginning. Although the third-year student of the School Complex in Międzyrzec Podlaski only took 97th place in the first, school stage, he took first place in the regional competition and did not allow himself to be deprived of this position in the final either.
– We prepared for the first stage on our own. A total of 46 students from my school started. Ten of them moved on. Then our teacher, Mr. Leszek Jóźwik, suggested we meet after classes and solve tests and tasks related to logistics in general together. The result? Six people made it to the final. This is all thanks to the commitment and patience of our teacher – claimed the winner of the Olympiad.
Leszek Jóźwik modestly denies this, emphasizing above all the diligence and determination of his students. – For both them and the school, this is a very great distinction. After all, the school won the title of Best School in the Olympiad.
The teachers of the other finalists also did not hide their pride and emotion. Second place went to Kacper Szarmach from the Secondary School Complex in Świecie, and third place to Magdalena Landowska from the E. Kwiatkowski Maritime School Complex in Świnoujście. Both won free bachelor’s studies at the Poznan School of Logistics. The remaining finalists received partial tuition waivers. Everyone was exempted from the written part of the vocational exam and awarded attractive material prizes.
The awards were presented by: Rector of the Poznan School of Logistics, Prof. Andrzej Korzeniowski, Chancellor – Assoc. Prof. Ireneusz Fechner, and Assoc. Prof. Zbyszko Pawlak, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Logistics.
The 1st National Logistics Olympiad began on November 27, 2008. At that time, 1,835 students from 84 secondary schools across Poland took part in the first stage. For sixty minutes, they answered forty questions developed by the Scientific Committee, composed of academic lecturers. By solving a single-choice test, they checked their knowledge in the field of logistics terminology, order, purchasing, delivery, and warehouse management skills, as well as techniques and technologies in logistics processes. “What is a logistics label?” and “What information is contained in the EAN-8 barcode?” – these are just two example tasks that the students struggled with.
464 participants qualified for the regional stage. The semi-final took place on January 5, 2009, in eight Polish cities: Poznań, Warsaw, Łódź, Wrocław, Kraków, Gdańsk, Gliwice, and Szczecin. The final showdown took place on March 20 at the headquarters of the Poznan School of Logistics. At that time, 43 students, exactly at noon, began solving three problem-based questions. The first concerned the calculation of logistics costs and the assessment of cost and plan indicators, the second question tested knowledge in the field of European Union transport policy, and the third – logistics planning, supply chain management, and logistics services.
The premise of the National Logistics Olympiad was not only the desire to arouse interest in logistics topics among young people but also to help evaluate the curriculum in secondary and post-secondary schools.
– For several years now, logistics has been present in the curricula of secondary and post-secondary schools. This is gratifying because the educational chain of logistics training has thus become complete. But schools, students, and teachers need to be helped so that the educational content is consistent with what we teach at the university level. Textbooks, teaching materials, and various forms of teacher training are also needed – lists Assoc. Prof. Ireneusz Fechner, Chancellor of WSL. – The Poznan School of Logistics is not indifferent to these needs. We treat secondary and post-secondary school teachers as partners, and students as subjects of our genuine interest. And there is no courtesy in this, because we want to have an influence on the quality of logistics education in the links preceding studies at the Poznan School of Logistics and the preparation of candidates for studies. Hence the various forms of cooperation with schools and the idea for a logistics olympiad, which will strengthen students’ interest in learning logistics. Thanks to the olympiad, our contacts with secondary and post-secondary vocational education will be even closer, and participation in the olympiad will be an additional reward for students for choosing this profession.
The substantive partners of the Olympiad are: The Institute of Logistics and Warehousing and the Polish Logistics Association.
Media patronage was provided by: “Logistyka” magazine (main patron), “Polska Gazeta Transportowa”, the daily newspaper “Polska Głos Wielkopolski”, the portal Logistyka.net.pl and Studentnews.pl.
The sponsors of the prizes for the winners were the companies: Epicor, L-Systems, and the Poznan School of Logistics.