Text: Mgr. Martina Bojdová, Deputy Director for Theoretical Teaching, ASŠ | Photo: Lukáš Duspiva
If a school is considering the introduction of any new field of study, it must have a strong partner behind it to provide students with facilities for their practical learning, offer initial teacher´s education and generally help in the developing on that new field. The existence of one of the largest printing houses in Central Europe led the school’s former headmaster Ing. Vanda Palowska to the idea of bringing the printing education at the Secondary School of Hotel, Business and Entrepreneurship (todays Albrecht High School). However, she had no idea that the same idea was maturing in the mind of Ing. Jaroslav Drahoš. The coincidence of rare circumstances, and the affection of the owner of the printing giant, sanctified the idea to start the history of printing education in the Těšín region.
To make such a field work, it was necessary to study the framework educational programmes, to draw up the school’s own educational programme and to consult thoroughly with the general partner. Therefore, the owner of FINIDR, Ing. Jaroslav Drahoš was asked for help. The decision was made by the founder of the Moravian-Silesian Region, which gave the green light to the field. In the next phase it was necessary to create the background, i.e. workshops, equip them with the appropriate machines, hire professional staff, offer it to the public and then it could start.
On 1 September 2008, in the newly built polygraphic studio the new studying field began its education which attracted more and more interested people. Therefore, in 2017, another specialisation was added to the polygraphy field – Printer on printing machines.
The cooperation between the two entities is still working well today, Ing. Jaroslav Drahoš is the chairman of the school board and with the current headmaster of Albrecht High School, Mgr. Pavel Cieslar, the President of Albrecht High School, they organize many events, projects and competitions. One of them is the Duplex…
Duplex 2023
5th annual professional competition for polygraphers and printers
For the period from February to April 2023, Albrecht High School, whose general partner for the printing branch is the FINIDR printing company, announced the Duplex 2023 professional competition for printers and printers, which had two main topics this year: the first was 150 years of professional education in the Těšín region and the second was 15 years of printing at Albrecht High School. The competition was traditionally held in two rounds.
The printers’ task in the first round, which took place during February, was to prepare the printing form, print all the pages of the advertising block and finally glue and cut the block. The second round was common for both printers and polygraphers and was so-called polygraphic triathlon. In addition, the polygraphic triathlon is announced separately and thus all competitors from both disciplines compete against each other; the polygraphic discipline competition is designed as a two-person team competition.
In the first round, the teams were tasked with creating two photographs where a symbolic “fifteen” representing the anniversary of the field was represented. They then had to add the obligatory text and the school logo to one of these photos to create a poster.
The second round – the polygraphic triathlon – was common for both polygraphers and printers. They competed in counting a specified number of sheets of SRA4 format paper in a time limit, cross-folding folders of SRA3 format paper in a time limit and mixing 2 shades of colours in a time limit. All this not only on time, but also with regard to quality.
The award ceremony and conference with the participation of polygraphy graduates working in the field and the school’s general partner, FINIDR, took place on 12 April 2023.
The second part belonged to the invited graduates of the Polygraphy field and their memories and summary of their career after graduation. On behalf of our printing company, it was Mirek Staszko, a graduate of the Polygraphy Department, who has been working for us since 2016 in the Input Technology and Cooperation Department.
“It’s incredible how quickly the time passes. When I count on my fingers how long I have been in FINIDR, it will be 7 years in October.
It was so nice to step out of the work process for a while and reminisce with former classmates about our time in the classroom and all the joys and sorrows associated with it. We were the mentioned first year of polygraphy students after the opening of the field at the High School of Hotel, Business and Entrepreneurship. The field of study was still in its infancy, but we were taught professional subjects by, among others, Mr. Jaroslav Drahoš and Tomáš Roman, so we received the most accurate and up-to-date information about technologies, trends and the situation on the printing market. The printing studio, or rather the printing workshop, was only at the stage of preparation at that time and we could only work with smaller machines in the higher grades. When I see how far the field of printing at the school has moved since then, I can’t help but envy the students the facilities they have at their disposal now.
Part of my visit at the school was also a short presentation of my study and professional life after graduation in a conference with the students. I hope that my speech motivated the students to work in the field, even though they could hear from my words that polygraphy is an extremely challenging but beautiful field.”
Miroslav Staszko, Cooperation Officer
