A Polish citizen from the US has left two million zlotys in her will to a school in Bydgoszcz that she graduated from. 

Ludwik Kowalski, the headmaster of the Mechanical School no. 1 in the northern city of Bydgoszcz, is delighted at the generous and unexpected gift from the late Maria Ziolkowska. However, he has a problem: the donor stipulated in her will that the money must be spent exclusively on books and computers. 

“The school is over a hundred years old and it needs a general overhaul,” says Kowalski but assures Mrs. Ziolkowska’s request eill be satisfied.  

From two million zlotys (600,000 dollars) inheritance the school has already spent half a million zlotys (155,000 dollars). “We opened a new Mechanical and Electronics Engineering faculty, bought textbooks for fifty students, supplied the school library with obligatory reading materials as well as dictionaries, specialist books and bestsellers. Now we have more than sixty modern computers and 1,5 million zlotys more to spend,” says Kowalski. 

The headmaster would like to use some of the money to build a gym and renovate an old plane it received from the Defence Ministry, an ideal model for learning a vocation. After consulting lawyers, the school found a solution which should satisfy both sides. “We transferred the remaining 1,5 million zlotys to a bank account. The core sum will be spent on books and computers, according to Mrs. Ziolkowska wish, and the interests will cover other expenses,” said Kowalski. (mg/pg)