A couple of dozen students enrolled at Polish supplementary schools won awards in two programs run by the Polish Slavic Federal Credit Union (P-SFCU): "Astronomy Adventure with Copernicus" and "Credit Union for Students." They received their awards last Thursday at the Greenpoint headquarters of the P-SFCU.
The program "Astronomy Adventure with Copernicus" emerged through cooperation between the P-SFCU and the Polish Supplementary Schools Council (PSSC), which aligns close to 70 schools, which educate some 10,300 students. Through the annual program, which was organized for the first time five years ago, close to 90 finalists have been awarded prizes worth a total of $83,000. The program was open to students from grades 7 through 12, whose parents are members of the P-SFCU.
 The winners were selected based on the essays they wrote on how the example of Nicolaus Copernicus and the P-SFCU's support can help them become scholars. Their pieces were revised and graded by a jury of teachers from the Polish supplementary schools headed by the PSSC's chairman, Dorota Andraka.
 This year's five finalists will now spend an all-expenses-paid week at the Kopernik Observatory & Science Center in Vestal, NY. While at the Observatory, the students will study the planets of the Solar system, they will analyze the latest astronomic discoveries, learn about the possibility of using robots in space missions, and will also participate in sessions of solar astrography. The Kopernik Observatory & Science Center was built and is now managed by the Polish-American organization, the Kopernik Society. In the past 30 years it has gained a reputation as the best astrological observatory in the Northeastern United States.
Through the program "Credit Union for students," the largest ethnic credit union in the United States wants to award achievements of students who attend the Polish supplementary schools. The aim of the program is to award the best students from each school belonging to the PSSC and located in New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. While choosing the nominees from their school the teachers took into consideration the students' grades, engagement in class and school, as well as attendance in the academic year 2009/2010.

The finalists from each school received a $100, which was transferred straight to their accounts at the P-SFCU.

The program "Credit Union for Students" has been offered annually since 2007, and to date has awarded 245 students. Thirty-eight schools participated in this year's awards program.