The Owensboro Magazine 2009

Pam Wilson of Owensboro talks to a local family about her many trips to Olomouc in the Czech Repulbic during the Multicultural Festival. Wilson serves as president of Owensboro Sister Cities and Regions. and political sector and our counterparts in the kraj. Once we have the business trust, everything falls into place.” One avenue that students can pursue to take advantage of Sister Cities is the Summer Studies program, which takes about 24 students to Olomouc each summer for 30 days of study abroad. Pam Wilson, president of Owensboro Sister Cities and Regions and director of the Summer Study program, said students can take up to nine credit hours. Classes are taught by two professors who travel with the group and local Czech professors at Pulasky University. The trip is more than just studying; side trips include visits to Austria, Poland, Hungary and Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. “The classroom really is the travel, the whole experience,” Wilson said. “It’s beyond the parameters of the classroom; it is a lifechanging experience for the students.” Students from throughout the state – and even from other countries – have joined in the trips in the past. Wilson said a similar program is being developed with Nisshin, Japan. The first exchange student who came from the Czech Republic to Owensboro as part of the Sister Cities program was Robin Joska in 1997. He made the visit to attend Kentucky Wesleyan College, where he played soccer. Eleven years later, he’s still here, holding a dual citizenship, working at Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline in Owensboro and coaching girls track at Owensboro High School. He met his wife at KWC and they now have a 2-year old daughter. “It was supposed to be for one year (but) I liked it,” he said. “I like it better now because I have a family.” Joska is also secretary of the board of directors for Owensboro Sister Cities and Regions and thinks the program is valuable because it raises awareness of cultural diversity. “It’s great when it’s a two-direction relationship,” he said. “I haven’t met anybody who wouldn’t like it when they went over there.” West thinks Sister Cities is not just valuable, but necessary, so he has served as volunteer executive director since the organization’s founding. West is employed by Owensboro Community & Technical College as a history professor. And OCTC generously grants him time he would normally spend teaching classes to run Sister Cities. He would love to see a center established in Owensboro to support and attract international attention for the area. (Louisville and Lexington have similar centers.) “It’s dangerous for us a people to not know about other peoples,” he said. “We are too powerful to be ignorant. ● OWENSBORO 2009 27

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Owensboro Magazine 2009

The Owensboro 2009 From our Chair Contents Buffalo Trace Brings History to Owensboro Environmental Education Blooms in the Garden Owensboro Arts and Cultural Events Making the Grade Building Opportunity In the Swim Economic Development through Placemaking Sister Cities brings International Benefits Embracing Innovation to spur Economic Development Creating a Pool of Skilled Workers Expanding Transportation Options One-Stop Business Licensing Robot Doctor Building a Locally-Based Food Economy Welcome to the Neighborhood Luxury Living on the River Moving In Trendy Excursions Evolves with the Times The Crème Brews Comfort Downtown Growing with the Community Family Business Boasts Longevity, Good Barbecue Entrepreneurial Spirit Comes Home Capturing the Broadway Market Ministering to Church Leaders Community at-a-Glance By the Numbers Dining & Catering Guide Advertiser Index

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