ISSUE #9

SLOVAKIA

S L O V A K I A

THE historic city of Bratislava has

many wonderful attractions but

none more so than paying a visit

to the country office of Smaller

Earth.

The city, which has a population

of half a million residents is in the

South West of the country and

borders both Austria and Hungary.

The city that sits on the River

Danube has a rich history

with the influences of its near

neighbours including Germany,

Czechoslovakia, Serbia, and even

was part of the Habsburg Empire

from 1536 to 1783.

Bratislava is home to several

universities, museums, theatres,

galleries and other important

cultural and educational

institutions. Many of Slovakia’s

large businesses and financial

institutions also have headquarters

which now include the friendly

face of Smaller Earth.

Country manager Sandor

Benkovics first established the

new office in the city in 2011, after

initially establishing the Camp

Leaders program from his home

in 2008.

Sandor said: “It all started after

I met with Alex Fekete, and after

I became the first student to

participate in the program. Since,

I have spent five unforgettable

summers at camp in the U.S.

“One of the reason’s I am involved

is because I believe deeply in the

philosophy of the company and in

its positive impact on the lives on

the young people.”

Now in its seventh season of

operation, the program has

become well known among

students and those living not just

in Bratislava but also around the

country.

Continued on page 4

The office has four full time staff and

ten part time students who work

hard to spread the name of Smaller

Earth and its Camp Leader program

to young people at nine different

towns and cities across Slovakia.

Sandor knows that running an office

that involves investing in the Smaller

Earth philosophy, is much more than

working 9am to 5pm.

He said: “The vibe in the office is

incredible. We work hard to make

every participant who comes to

check out our program feel both the

professional yet friendly atmosphere

and positive feelings.

“We are truly passionate about what

we do, which means we never put our

goals on the back burner just because

things don’t play out the way we

want them to. Equally, we use those

challenges as motivating factors to

succeed. That is who we are and what

makes us special! We work hard but

play with lots of humour.”

Staff member Edita Teplanova adds:

“It’s an amazing feeling to be able to

share our very special life changing

experiences with hundreds of young

people and help them to discover it

too.”

S A N D O R B E N K O V I C S

COUNTRY MANAGER

Sandor who holds a master’s degree in

economics, embarked on his life changing

experiences during his third year at

university.

He spent the first U.S. summer at Camp

Nesher in 2008. He was so changed and

enthused by the experience, that spent four

more years at Lake Bryn Mawr Camp, where

he worked as a member of the kitchen

staff and where he also became a cooking

specialist out of doors.

Sandor’s experience persuaded him that

having such a program for local students was

a great idea and right after the summer he

started developing the new Camp Leaders

office in Slovakia. From that time, and

aged just 22, he became an indispensable

member of Smaller Earth family.

In his leisure time Sandor runs half-

marathons, as yet another way in inspiring

people to go further.

When he travelled to the U.S. for the first time he had long hair and earring (check his Facebook profile :) ). He also went on a cruise to the Bahamas and his secret dream is to eventually have his own cottage in Puerto Rico.

Fun Fact

Z U Z A N A T E L E P O V S K A

TEAM MEMBER

Zuzana is proud to declare she comes

from Kosice, the second largest city in

Slovakia. She studied finance, banking

and investment at the UK’s University of

Huddersfield before doing Erasmus at

Teesside University. Zuzana believes that if

she does something, she aims to do it with

both energy and passion.

Zuzana has so far spent three summers

working at summer camp in US. And

her adopted second home is on Lake

Winnipesaukee and Camp Robindel for

Girls. This summer will be her fourth summer

and she can’t wait to get there. She joined

the Smaller Earth family in 2013, and it was

Bastian’s speech at the annual conference

which influenced her career vision.

Zuzana’s sister lives in Mexico and in 2011 after her graduation she made one-month road trip to visit her.

Fun Fact

M A R T I N D E R M E K

TEAM MEMBER

Martin has a reputation among his

colleagues in that he is easy-going and very

much a people-person, the ‘Casanova’ of

the office! When he was at High School he

fell in love with the English language and

later studied teaching English and literature.

He also taught business English.

This summer will represent his fourth year at

JCC Camp CHI in Wisconsin.

Martin is currently practicing his handstands and intends to do it down the stairs of the office. You can ask him if he was successful when you see him at this year’s annual conference but then again you can probably figure out if he was successful!

Fun Fact

E D I T A T E P L A N O V A

TEAM MEMBER

Edita worked as a child psychologist for

more than two years before she joined

the Smaller Earth family. In her new role

she loves dealing with university students

and supporting them towards their future

career goals. While at university, she spent

one summer in Manchester with her friends

and took the opportunity of meeting and

getting to know some great people while

there. She was one of only five people who

first participated in the new Camp Leaders

program from Slovakia. The following year

she became a national team member. She

found love during two summers spent

at Camp Half Moon, Massachusetts. The

biggest impact of Camp Leaders had to her

life was in May 2014, she married the person

she met at Camp Half Moon.

In 2009, she experienced both Hurricane Irene, while in New York and an earthquake at Virginia Beach.

Fun Fact

PEOPLE will tell you that one of the great-est attributes in life is having compassion for one another and caring deeply for those particularly in their hour of need.

And for Smaller Earth staff that focus has been brought to the fore recently after they embarked on a series of fundraisers not only to help poor children but to assist a former Smaller Earth team member Fiona Duffee, 30, who after suffering a stroke in March, was paralysed down her left side and lost her speech.

To help Fiona, Smaller staff in Liverpool re-cently held a number of events, which in-cluded selling cup cakes and a day at the races. Solihull staff member Katie Cunliffe, who remembered her when she worked at Smaller Earth, was part of the effort which raised £100 for Fiona.

Fundraising is nothing new to Katie, and since February she and and her office col-league Stu Young, have also been raising money for Action for Children, which in-volved pub quizzes involving both staff at Liverpool and Solihull.

Katie, who among other duties, is responsi-ble for organising the UK flights For Camp Leaders explains: “I decided without any hesitation to embark on the fundraisers for poorer children and for Fiona, so I could give something back.

“What really struck me as a scary in Fio-na’s case, was the thought that one day you can be completely healthy and the next you are hit by a life changing event that can affect you for the rest of your life.”

Stuart added: “We thought a fundraiser for Fiona would be a perfect opportuni-ty for us all to have some fun share some laughs and also do a good deed at the same time.”

According to Fiona’s family, despite being struck down by illness, hasn’t lost her sense of humour or her smile.

As every person knows, the efforts by Small-er Earth staff worldwide is nothing new and as an organization we pride ourselves on going that extra mile to help out, whether that be collecting for an orphanage in Ken-ya or sponsoring less well off youngsters to attend camp.

If members of the Smaller Earth team have any further ideas or events coming up, please do let our CEO know. so it can be better publicised and more importantly rec-ognized amongst the group.

Fiona Duffee

“I decided without any hesitation to embark

on this so I could give something back.

Katie Cunliffe

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D E S I G N E D BY

C O V E R : H O U S E I N Č I Č M A N Y

BY M R . T H E K L A N