Approximately 300 Wisconsin high school students, accompanied by teachers and other adults, came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on March 5, 2014 for a “Day in East and Central Europe,” an outreach event sponsored by UW-Madison’s Center for European Studies, Center for Russia, East Europe, & Central Asia (CREECA), and the European Union Center of Excellence.
Kathryn Ciancia, assistant professor of history, opened the event, held at Union South, with a keynote address on “Imaginative Rebels: Snapshots of Poland in the 1980s.”
After the opening, the participants, divided into groups named after cities in the region, attended a series of half-hour breakout sessions. These sessions included glimpses into the history, culture, and contemporary issues in countries across the region, including Russia, Poland, the former Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Estonia, and Lithuania, as well as an introduction to village dance.
The half-day event concluded with a dance party, featuring Intemperance Collective, a local acoustic Balkan band.
Photos: Kerry G. Hill/UW-Madison Division of International Studies