Miroslav Kozák

PaedDr. Miroslav Kozák (*1959) could already be called a legendary teacher of chemistry and mathematics at the Vavrinec Benedikt Nedožerský Grammar School (GVBN) in Prievidza. From the beginning of his teaching, he tried to involve students in extracurricular activities, whether sports or mathematics. After a few years, however, his passion for chemistry prevailed, with which he can masterfully "infect" his students. Dozens of them, many now as members of the Prievidza Chemical Society (PChS), owe him for the life decision to pursue chemistry and other technical sciences.

Miroslav Kozák achieved his first significant success with systematic work of his students in 1993, when his student Miro Iliaš, now an associate professor of theoretical chemistry at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, fought his way up to national round of the Chemistry Olympiad (ChO) in the highest category of Slovak grammar school students. (cat. A). Miro Iliaš took an excellent 8th place and started a series of successes of a long line of students in ChO competitions not only at the national but also at the international level. Between 1993 and 2019, Miroslav Kozák led 54 of his students to 112 participations in the national round of the ChO and 20 students to 31 participations in the International Chemical Olympiad, from where they won a total of 8 silver and 16 bronze medals for Slovakia, 2 honorable mentions and 4 diplomas for participation. Miroslav Kozák's worldwide success is the participation of up to three of his students in the four-member national team of Slovakia at the 49th International Chemical Olympiad 2017 in Thailand, which is undoubtedly a world achievement.

Thanks to the remarkable achievements, Miroslav Kozák, with the support of the GVBN management, led to access to a small school laboratory, where students have the opportunity to carry out a number of experiments. This laboratory serves not only for participants of Chemistry Olympiad, but also for demonstration experiments during teaching other high school students. Unfortunately, in the environment of Slovak grammar schools, such a teaching space is rather a rarity today. If you are from the vicinity of Prievidza and you are interested in top chemical literature, you do not need to go to university libraries. You will find one directly in Prievidza. Over the years, Miroslav Kozák has been able to supplement it with chemical literature, including university and foreign books and scripts that students have at their disposal at any time. Come and take a look!

Since 2007, Miroslav Kozák has been the regional chairman of the Chemistry Olympiad for the Trenčín Region in all three categories A, B and C intended for grammar school students. Thus, every year he organizes local Chemistry Olympiad competitions in the region, the Slovak national round and co-organized several years of the summer chemical camp, the Summer School of Chemists. He was a member of the team of mentors of the Slovak national team at the International Chemistry Olympiad several times.

Miroslav Kozák is the holder of the Grand Medal of St. Gorazd (2009), awarded by the Minister of Education for many years of pedagogical work, a finalist in the prestigious award for secondary school teachers, the Dionýz Ilkovič Award (2017), and the holder of the Prievidza Angel Award (2019) .

Most of Miroslav Kozák's chemistry olympians today study or work at universities and research institutions in several European countries, or work in companies where science and technology education is the basement of their work. Two of his very talented students worked on molecular machine research in the 2016 in Nobel Prize research groups for chemical research in this field, Professors Fraser Stoddart (Northwestern University, USA) and Ben Ferring (University of Groningen, The Netherlands). You can read HERE and HERE how it feels to work with the most successful scientists on the planet in the words of PChS members.

Above all, however, is the human side of Miro Kozák, that shows a sincere interest in his students not only in high school, but also long after that. Thanks to his personality, it is a great pleasure for everyone to return to Prievidza and meet him at least once a year. Thus, he maintains regular contact with a large community of his former students, who do not hesitate to help him prepare high school students for competitions in the form of lectures and exercises. An example of Miroslav Kozák's kindness is his selfless help to one of his students, who was brought up in a very difficult family situation. From an environment where not only finances but also a deep parental love was absent. Miroslav Kozák humbly expressed the depth of his teaching mission and took on the role of his mentor during a difficult period of his life. He also helped with material, constant search for sponsors from the beginning of high school until the successful completion of university studies in chemistry at Charles University in Prague. Thus he at least partially softened the cracks of parental love, which, unfortunately, does not receive as much for everyone as is deserved.

Miroslav Kozák is still an active teacher at GVBN in Prievidza and therefore we can look forward to a number of other successes that some of his students will achieve in the future. With this short text, we, the members of PChS, want to express the immense gratitude of hundreds of students to whom Miroslav Kozák had a positive impact on life.