by Larissa Petryca, on 12 October 2021 13:19:50 CEST
On Wednesday 6 October over 200 students, staff and special guests came together to celebrate PCU. A new name and new semester seemed fitting for a party at Máj 4. Patro, one of Prague’s famous rooftop terraces. The evening was action packed full of live music, food, dance, special announcements and surprises.
Special Guest Presentation from Augusto Razetto
Dean of the School of Business, Dr Stefano Cavagneto introduced the evenings special guest speaker Augusto Razetto. Mr Razetto is an Architect, Developer, Art Collector and Director of the Eleutheria Foundation which supports and showcases the best of Czech culture and fosters cultural exchange among European countries.
Mr Razetto spoke about his extensive architectural restoration work in Prague and the satisfaction in knowing that it can be passed on to future generations. He attributes his success to his curiosity, ability to overcome obstacles and vision and encouraged students to work hard and follow their dreams.
Mr Razetto also announced that Prague City University students will have special access for research and study to his collection of over 5000 Czech and Slovak paintings and sculptures with the majority of work dating from the Socialist Realism period. This collection forms part of the broader collection of art held by the Eleutheria Foundation, which he set up to lead pan-European artistic projects and enhance cultural connections between Italy and the Czech Republic.
Prague City Architecture
President Douglas Hajek introduced the first special initiative for PCU Learning Plus announcing a Prague City Architecture course which will be available to all PCU students and staff. Course creator Alex Went, spoke briefly about the programme that will begin in October and run through till the end of the year. Stay tuned for the registration email which will be coming soon.
Transformation
In addition to PCU’s visual transformation, the university has expanded from three Schools to four. Representing the new School was Dr. Zdeněk Starý, Dean of the School of Education. The School of Education builds on the 13-year history of Akcent College, now called Prague City Vysoká Škola and part of PCU. Both blended and full-time Bachelor’s programmes in Teaching English, as well as the Czech qualification for teaching English in the state school system have successfully started in the past few weeks from PCU’s Polska campus.
Student Awards
The evening formalities concluded with five students receiving their awards for their outstanding contribution to PCU. The awards were announced by President Douglas Hajek and handed out by Vice President Jeffrey Buehler.
The recipients were:
Irene Antonez a graduate of MA Future Design and a second year MA Fine Art student has continuously shared her talents as a professional musician to the PCU community. During 2020, Irene performed many times at our livestream concerts bringing much joy to everyone at home.
Scy Heidekamp is a second year MA Future Design student. She has been a Social Media Ambassador for PCU since February. She creates posts, livestreams and videos such as the student explainer video. Scy also runs the Unmute music society for students. For the Welcome to PCU party she AI generated visual graphics to accompany the performers and made the party invite!
Donnel Mandimika is in his final year of Bachelor's in Computing. He is also a recognised DJ in Prague. Don was the main performer and a key organiser for PCU’s first Livestream party back in April 2020 and helped source a spectacular lineup of Prague DJ's who performed from PCU’s Polska Campus. This livestream party was the first in Prague and drew an audience of 20,000 people worldwide.
Melvin Methe is a second year Graphic Design student. In his first year Melvin created Agora, a magazine to help art & design students and practicing artists express and share their creativity. Melvin has assembled a team of enthusiastic students across the schools who create original content for Agora which has just published it's 3rd Edition here.
Celina Romero is a second year MA Fine Art student. Along with Scy, Celena is a Social Media Ambassador, regularly creating content for social media including the student explainer video. Celina also features in PCU's Artist's Journey video filmed at Pragovka under the direction of Alejandro Huereca. In 2021, she started PCU’s Clay Society.
PCU Party
After the announcements and awards were given the volume turned up and live music began. With perfect weather for October, party goers had a lot of space to socialise, eat, drink and relax outside on the enormous terrace as well as the indoor atrium space.
Irene Antonez performed an amazing set followed by DJ Don who got the crowd dancing. Scy Heidekamp operated her AI video projections that accompanied the beats.
Student societies including Unmute - Music Society, the Ceramic Society, Czechmate - Gaming Society, The Art Society, Agora Magazine and Czech out Yoga all had tables set up presenting their activities.
Overall it was a great night that was enjoyed by so many. It was wonderful to see faces old and new in person. We really look forward to creating and hosting more events in the city.
For more photos from the evening visit the Welcome to PCU Party gallery here.
