Honoring Her Son’s Memory by Educating Children 7,000 Miles Away
Since Monika Sywak’s son, Pawel, died three years ago, just a few days shy of his 21st birthday, she has been searching for a way to honor him and give meaning to his life, cut so short, so unexpectedly.
Born in Poland in 1991, Pawel moved with his parents to the United States in 1995, and the family eventually settled in Wilton. While he never lost his sense of his Polish roots, he quickly acclimated to his new country. A junior majoring in engineering at UCONN at the time of his death, he was outgoing, compassionate, and full of dreams. He loved the University of Connecticut and was a big fan of the school’s basketball team, the Connecticut Huskies. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi, which supported Special Olympics for its philanthropy. He was planning to enter the military after graduation, and use his engineering degree to work on maintaining and repairing military plane engines.
