Mark Andy has supported the printing-oriented international student society for many years and has established many initiatives devoted to a young generation of future printers. This year one of the Polish-based students (representing the Printing Technologies Unit, belonging to the Faculty of Production Engineering at the Warsaw Technical University) has held an internship in the local branch of the company. During a month spent at Mark Andy Poland, he learned about all aspects of the company’s activities.

The internship was another Mark Andy’s initiative devoted to the students society, following numerous workshops, trainings, webinars, Open Houses as well as the label design contest. As Lena Chmielewska-Bontron, European Marketing Manager, Mark Andy explains, it was the first initiative of this kind offered by the company: “We have been in close touch with Polish and international students for many years so we’re conscious about their needs of knowledge about technology and different solutions. In common discussions we have often heard about a doubtful level of teaching, frequently diverging from reality and today’s needs of our fast-changing industry. So we are very keen to share our knowledge and experiences with them. This time we decided about establishing an internship for one person”.

The one-month internship was an opportunity for the student to learn about all sections/divisions of Mark Andy Poland, including marketing, sales, demo center, service and prepress. “He was able to observe what we do during our daily work – Lena Chmielewska-Bontron continues – but also actively involved in chosen tasks, including preparation of several label designs. Our goal was to share and deliver him as much knowledge as we could while doing our regular work. We focused on printing technologies, presses we offer as well as market trends and opportunities for finding a job in label-oriented industries”.

As Lena Chmielewska-Bontron adds, different initiatives devoted to students of printing-oriented high schools and technical universities are among the company’s priorities: “We’re committed to share our knowledge with young people, the knowledge they can’t often get at their schools. Outdated scholarship programs and – what we also observe – a lack of teacher’s enthusiasm causes lowering the students’ knowledge. Therefore we find an opportunity to present our technology during “live” press demonstrations or showing a process of job preparation – step by step – very necessary. We also hope they find it interesting. We’re convinced that an internship, we have started this year, will bring the students a big dose of knowledge not only about Mark Andy but also about the whole market and its needs, both today and in the future. We also hope it will influence on their future business choices. We’re very committed to these kinds of initiatives and we’ll keep them going on”- Lena Chmielewska-Bontron underlines.

The company has already confirmed its will to organize the next edition of Mark Andy Students Awards. The contest, established three years ago, bases on creating a label or packaging design in one of the categories presented by the organizer. “This year we will extend it to the international, global scale – says Lena Chmielewska-Bontron – which means that students from around the world will be able to participate in it. The contest is devoted to all the students representing such faculties as: printing, paper, packaging, fine arts and graphic design. Similar to the first edition, it will concern very attractive rewards. We hope that it will attract interest of many young people willing to show their skills in terms of designing and producing labels and packaging in narrow-web technology”.