Learning Logistics in Poland

Klaudia Podstawek revisits her birthplace with an international internship.

For Klaudia Podstawek ’20, this summer is about getting real-world business experience—while going back to her roots.

A double major in marketing and international business, Podstawek was born in Poland and moved to the United States at age 7. She spent her childhood summers in Warsaw, visiting her grandparents and immersing herself in Polish culture.

This summer, she’s back in Warsaw—but this time, it’s for an internship.

“I knew I had to do an internship to be competitive in the job market, and I thought it would be really cool to have something international on my resume,” Podstawek says. “Poland has always felt like home, so it was the natural choice.”

After an intensive search using Glassdoor, internet resources and family connections, Podstawek landed an eight-week internship with Point of View, an international logistics company outside of Warsaw. She started out in the company’s warehouse, learning to create orders, collect inventory, pack orders and create shipping labels. Now she’s stationed in the company’s main office, where she’s in charge of getting shipping quotes from other companies.

Anyone can get an education. But as an Elmhurst University graduate, I’ll be coming out of a college that believed in me.

—Klaudia Podstawek ’20

“I’m excited to learn more about logistics, because it’s such an important part of business. It’ll be really cool to have this on my resume,” she says. “I’m also excited to be here. I’m absolutely in love with Poland, and I definitely see myself coming back here when I complete my journey at Elmhurst University.”

Podstawek earned an associate degree at College of DuPage before transferring to Elmhurst.

“When I went to visit Elmhurst, I loved the campus so much I made the decision right then,” she says. “Classes are small, so your professors know you by name and give you a lot of feedback. No matter if you live on campus or not, the school always finds a way to get you involved.”

Posted July 12, 2019