Josef Dvorak - University of Economics, Prague
My name is Josef Dvorak, I am a graduate of University of Economics in Prague (Czech Republic) and I am getting ready for my seventh summer with Southwestern Advantage. I was recruited in my 3rd year of University wanting to learn English at any cost. The summer before I went to Ireland with the same desire, I ended up in a kitchen washing dishes and the only English words I learned were: "peel the potatoes", "wash the plates" and "faster". I came back home and felt ok about my summer, but that was it.
When I saw one of the Southwestern experienced guys talking in front of a lecture with huge confidence and handing out little surveys, I thought to myself: "I want some of this!" I filled out his survey and didnt even care what I was going to do. I just wanted some of his skills. My first summer went alright, by the end of it I was able to converse fluently in English, saw a little bit of California, learned a lot about loads of things 
and ended up in the TOP 10 in Europe, saving over $10,500 and feeling great!
As I mentioned above I am getting ready for my 7th summer. I could be talking for hours about all the fancy stuff that I have seen and learned, but here are just couple of those that I value the most: I not only learned English, but spending 5 summers in California also tought me Spanish and nowadays I am able to make sales and converse in Spanish. I learned how to talk with confidence in front of a large group of people, sell ideas, how to stay motivated, set goals, .... and in general got ready for the job market or setting up my own business. Thanks to what I do I already visited places like Mexico, Cayman Islands, Gambia, Cyprus, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, .... and of course loads of places in USA.
In my "minicareer" with Southwestern I was fortunate enough to build a business with a turnover of over $710,000 (13 Million CZK) in 4 months and ever since the end of my second summer I have been earning more money in my summer job than both of my parents. Most importantly I helped dozens of Czech, Slovak, and Polish students to go to the US, improve English, learn tons of things, have great fun, and that makes me feel like I had positive impact on many young people.
