In August, the Palacký University Olomouc Faculty of Education hosted a group of students and professors from Bryan College, a private Christian college in Dayton, Tennessee, for the week-long Central European Entrepreneurship Program.
Before coming to Olomouc, students spent one week in Prague. The majority of them study Economics, Business Management, or Marketing, and they worked alongside employees at Raiffeisen Bank in different departments (research and development, corporate banking, IT, and marketing). Several students of Political Science were working with the European Values Center for Security Policy, combatting misinformation and disinformation from the Russian and Chinese governments.
The Olomouc internship, held for the past decade, has been supervised by Václav Řeřicha from Institute of Foreign Languages at the UP Faculty of Education and strongly supported by the International Relations Office. It includes visits to individual local businesses and both religious and civic institutions, where Bryan College students meet with Czech managers and entrepreneurs.
On the first day, students visited the Olomouc studio of Mary Kay Cosmetics, owned and run by Romana Filípková, where they discussed the specifics of running a branch of the U.S. based-cosmetics company in Olomouc.
Tuesday’s field trip to Kroměříž not only included the beautiful chateau, where students of English from the Faculty of Education are working in the summer as tour guides, but also a visit to the Archbishop’s Wine Cellars, with wine tasting. The manager/guide explained how the business started in the 13th century and what the business has been like in the last several years. Some of the questions students asked concerned wine production during the Covid period, why we rarely see Czech wines in the international market, and what business management at that company includes. Testing the specialty wines and hearing about the origin of the grapes and their subtle nuances of taste in the 6.5-metre underground cellars, with a constant temperature of about 10°C, was a very special experience.
The Dean of the Faculty of Education, Vojtěch Regec, hosted Bryan College students on Wednesday morning. The meeting started with a presentation of the university and the Faculty of Education and continued with students’ questions and a tour of the Department of Foreign Languages. It was followed by a guided tour of the Archbishop’s Palace and the highly anticipated field trip to Chomoutov to visit the Chomout micro-brewery.
On Thursday, students visited the company Honeywell Aerospace Olomouc, where they were cordially welcomed by the general director, Martin Šebesta, and his colleagues. After refreshments and a tour, Ben Paul, an Economics student, said: “Honeywell is working on some incredible things, and each of their employees took great care of us.”
Photo source: Honeywell
On the last day of the internship, the group met with the founder of the Bistrá kráva café, Jára Šlechta. It began with barista training: all the students had a chance to make their own coffee with the assistance of the owner. Over coffee, Jára enthusiastically described doing business in the Czech Republic, his original plans, how the business survived Covid, and the benefits of his business.
Photo: Lenka Nosková
Every day after the official programme, a group of Czech “buddies” from the Faculty of Education prepared free time activities. “We aimed to show students the beauty of Olomouc, including the history of the city and current student life as well,” said Lenka Nosková, a Ph.D. student from the Department of Czech Language and Literature, who led the group of Czech students. “So we took our Bryan College friends on a historical city tour, and later in the week we visited popular restaurants and student meeting places such as the outdoor Letní kino and U Dvou strašidel pub.”
At the beginning, on Sunday, they visited an outdoor swimming pool in Bělkovice. Nosková explained: “The idea was to spend Sunday afternoon like many Czechs do. It turned into a great team-building time, we ended the day as friends, having discussed many topics, including Czech and American history and sharing our own personal histories.” Tommy Newman, a Political Science student, commented: “The best parts were the laid-back ones, where we all came together to share stories or just to laugh and talk. I never thought I could connect and bond with people in such a short amount of time.”
For the Thursday afternoon, their Czech buddies prepared a surprise – a picnic on Svatý Kopeček. Homemade food, drinks, music, and card games made the afternoon special. The place was well-chosen, as Bethany Watkins, an Economics student said, “The basilica perched on top of the hill on our final day was by far my favourite sight to see.” They continued with a farewell dinner in the 818 Restaurant at sunset; many beautiful photos were taken that evening.
Photo: Lenka Nosková
Jeremy Eastwood, a graduate of Economics and Philosophy, who has owned a business for more than four years, wrote: “the team devised a programme that holistically showed the intricacies of both small and large businesses in Olomouc and carried it out with grace. I received multiple insights throughout the week that I am already implementing into my own small business back home.”
Paul added, “This definitely was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and my main takeaway has to be learning more about how businesses work interculturally.”
His statement was endorsed by Prof Michael Palmer, an expert on communications and media, who accompanied the students to the Czech Republic. He has been a frequent guest of UP for almost a decade now, giving lectures at the Faculty of Education on communications, and movies and their Christian values.