Welcome to the American School of Warsaw's Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)!
We are privileged to have immensely dedicated parent volunteers, who help to bring together faculty, staff and families to enhance our children’s educational experience.
PTO Highlights
After helping new families find their feet on the first day of school, volunteers from the PTO get together for a group photo.The Spring Faire takes place close to the end of the school year and features a garage sale, fun entertainment and delicious food.Once a month parents are invited to Coffee Morning to socialise, have fun and learn about upcoming volunteer opportunities at school events. Previous Coffee Mornings have seen cultural presentations from the Polish, Chinese, Korean, Turkish and many other communities.UN Day is one of the most important days on the school calendar. It is a day when we celebrate our diversity by coming together and sharing elements from each of our own cultures.The Romania station at United Nations Day.The Color Run takes place on the same day as the Senior's last day of school, and is typically organised for students in the Elementary School. Students, parents and staff dressed in Santa hats take part in a fun run around the running track just before the Christmas break.Parents prepare lunch for teachers and staff.
The active Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) organizes regular school events - from the Spring and Fall BBQs to the Halloween Zombie Run - and invites all members of the community to attend.
The PTO also helps new parents integrate into our community through regular adult-only events such as the Welcome Back Mixer or the 'Learn Polish' club.
My name is Maria Daifoti and I come from Athens, Greece. I am married to Nick and we have two daughters in ASW, Nino in 3rd grade and Zoe in 7th grade. Together with our dog Whiskey we arrived in Warsaw in 2018 and since then I have been an active member of our school’s community. I have a background in journalism and international relations and I was working for 12 years as a reporter of foreign news in a big TV station in Athens.
Besides my PTO commitment I enjoy my yoga and Pilates classes, my passion for painting, jewelry making and dancing. What I have loved about Warsaw, since day one, is the opportunity to take long walks and bike in the beautiful parks of the city. This the best time for me to clear my head and recharge my batteries - I totally recommend it!
Even though I am Greek I consider myself an international citizen and what I have enjoyed most during this time of expat life is getting to know people from all the parts of the world. The more I engage in the international community the more I realize that we have more things in common than differences. We share the same feelings and the same worries, but we express them in a different way. As you can imagine, I do it in my “big fat Greek" way!
I have lived in Italy, England and Bulgaria and have always been grateful for the great gift of international friendships. Maybe this year, you won’t have the opportunity to see me laughing loud with my friends in the cafeteria but I will be communicating with you via eNotes once a week and I will be only a Zoom away for our PTO coffee mornings, for simple chatting and for making sure that our parents' community will stay strong during this period of uncertainty.
Volunteering for me is a blessing and I feel that this world will only get better if we stay united! Because as Pink Floyd once sang, 'Together we stand, divided we fall'!
My life moto is 'use your dreams to make your reality'! So this year, we will dream together to achieve a much better reality! And there is no better way than volunteering for our PTO!
My name is Maria Daifoti and I come from Athens, Greece. I am married to Nick and we have two daughters in ASW, Nino in 3rd grade and Zoe in 7th grade. Together with our dog Whiskey we arrived in Warsaw in 2018 and since then I have been an active member of our school’s community. I have a background in journalism and international relations and I was working for 12 years as a reporter of foreign news in a big TV station in Athens.
I am an American from Oceanside, California. My husband and I have three strong, beautiful daughters; Isabella (22), Sophia (19,) and Gianna (14). I have had the privilege to stay home with my daughters and raise them. This assignment in Poland is the first that we have lived out of the country together as a family. We are finding it fun, challenging, and exciting.
Most of my time has been spent giving back to the communities in which I have lived. As a Girl Scout volunteer for over 17 years I have dedicated myself to building girls of courage, confidence, and character. I have also held positions within our council to help leaders and troops as a Juliette Coordinator and Mentor to leaders during our girls Entrepreneur Cookie and Nut program.
My passion to serve has also led me to work with local organizations in providing food and resources for our growing homeless epidemic. I strongly believe in building up and supporting community. Wherever my heart has led I have followed. In these challenging times community is what knits us all together and unifies us.
A few hobbies I enjoy are learning about culture through cuisine, recently I have found a joy in canning and baking. I have also enjoyed hiking and used to be apart of a local hiking group in California.
It is my hope as part of our PTO Board that I can help make everyone, whether returning or new arrivals, feel welcomed here at ASW.
I am Polish, born and raised in Warsaw. If you need a local connection I’m probably the right person to talk to. I spent some time in Japan (work) and US (MBA). I have three kids, 2 at ASW. Stanisław (grade 9), Natalia (grade 8) and Helena (grade 6) and my oldest daughter is a doctor in Exeter, UK. Professionally, I deal with real estate rentals, investment and management. At school, I am the manager for the Warrior Wear-House, so I will be the person nagging you about volunteering for the shop shifts. I love reading and hiking.
Hello! My name is Domicella, I am Italian and I arrived in Warsaw in 2019. I have two girls in ASW: Elena is in 9th grade and Elisa is in 7th grade. I lived all around Italy, but mostly in breathtaking Rome. I like very much travelling and gathering in international environments to meet new people from all over the world, learn from their cultures and improve my language skills. I am one of the lucky mums in that I can do my job virtually, from anywhere. I work for an Italian communication and event planning agency, mainly for the automotive sector. I like listening to acid jazz and chill-out music, reading, walking and most of all spending time with friends. I also believe in community values and the PTO has many great opportunities to get the community together in joyful events for everybody.
Hello! I am Stefania and I am Italian. I have three children, Andrea in gr.11, Sara and Francesco in gr.10. We arrived In Warsaw last year after 1 year in the USA. We also lived in China for almost 7 years, and in Kraków for 3 years. We have a dog, a Golden Retriever called Noodle. I graduated from Venice University with a degree in Chinese Language and Literature, with a specialisation in Chinese, Japanese and Indian Art. Besides my passion for East Asia, I am interested in Global Politics and History. I love theatre, photography and design. As far as school and education is concerned, I am very interested in helping to create an inclusive learning environment in particular for children with learning difficulties.
My name is Parul Agarwal Goel. I am an Indian who first got expatriated from my lovely country back in 2014, when my husband took an international assignment with Unilever in Portugal. In the last 6 years, as a family we have stayed in 3 countries ( Portugal, Netherlands and Poland) and it has been an amazing experience to see such diverse cultures, which I personally love and cherish…
I am an MBA and a Law graduate. I have always been academically inclined, which led me to work in academia professionally, when I taught graduate students for 7 years. I took a backseat from this professional life when my daughter was born and that was when the new chapter of my life began.
We shifted as a family to Warsaw in 2018, and frankly this city has been kind to us and we enjoy the green carpet of this city. I now volunteer as a Communications Manager in a group of expatriate women. I am an active mom of two lovely kids, Shriyadita (daughter) 6 year old, currently in First Grade and Shaurya (son), who is 3 years old. I love to read books, sketch and travel.
