For as long as Wioleta Jaworska can remember—“even back to grammar school”— she has placed a high value on logic. “It’s always been the main theme in my critical thinking,” says the BMCC business major.
Fittingly, logic is the central theme of Jaworska’s honors research project, “The Rise of the Polish Mathematical Logic School: 1880s to 1930s.” Jaworska’s work was featured at the CUNY Women’s and Gender Studies Recognition Day, sponsored by the CUNY Women’s Studies Council and the CUNY Women’s Center Council. She and BMCC Liberal Arts major Mariana Soto were chosen by the BMCC Women’s Studies Project and Women’s Resource Center to present their work at the May 1 event, held at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Logic and leadership
Much of Jaworska’s paper explores the work of Alfred Tarski, “whose contributions to the notion of truth and model theory had a broad and lasting impact on the development of mathematical logic in North America,” she says. But in her presentation at John Jay, Jaworska took a different tack, and focused on the vital importance of logic to women in leadership positions.
In mentoring fellow students at BMCC’s Women’s Resource Center, Jaworska says, “I’ve sometimes noticed a tendency to approach problems emotionally rather than logically. So I make a point of trying to keep my mentees on a logical track.”
Born, raised and educated in Poland, Jaworska emigrated to the United States five years ago—with her son, now 14—to recover from the emotional and psychological trauma triggered by the death of her parents. She was 32.
“In a real sense, I had to start my life all over again—change continents, cultures and countries and learn to function in a foreign language,” she says. “I could have remained in Poland, but my closest friends—and the people on whom I knew I could depend—were in New York. I’d met them a few years earlier when I visited the U.S. as a foreign student.” On the advice of the CUNY Foreign Transfer Student Center, she enrolled in BMCC, “where I felt I could immerse myself in the English language and American culture as fast as possible.”
Helping women achieve their potential
Now in her fourth semester, Jaworska hopes to transfer to City College next year and pursue a double major in mathematics and economics. Her eventual goal is to teach—ideally at the university level—with a special focus on helping women achieve their full leadership potential.
Leadership is a skill that seems to come naturally to Jaworska, who was one of two students to receive the CUNY Leadership Award in recognition of her mentoring and tutoring work.
“I feel strongly about giving back to CUNY because the doors for a new life were opened to me here,” she says. “What’s more, the people behind those open doors—including my honors project advisor, Prof. Yibao Xu, and Deborah Parker of the Women’s Resource Center—made it clear that they were willing to help. After having received such overwhelming encouragement and support, I felt my life would not be in balance if I didn’t give back.”
