College education for 10 talented students in BiH

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Scholarship and Personal Development Program

Quarterly Report

October-December 2019

Executive Summary:

The year is coming to an end, the fall semester is almost over, and our students are about to tackle yet another exam season. We are excited to report to our donors all of the inspiring news from this quarter. Bosana has some of the best and most dedicated students and we can only hope that our supporters are as proud of them as we are.

Bosana received incredible support from our donors for the Giving Tuesday campaign and the End of the Year campaign. In addition, the scholarship program received five laptops as a donation from Hired, Inc.

Bosana Advisory Committee has been in the planning mode for months now preparing for the next annual gala. Bosana 11th Annual Benefit is scheduled for March 7^th. This event will offer another meaningful and fun evening focused on women of Bosnia and Herzegovina, their education, successes, as well as their philanthropic work.

Student and Program Update:

The last quarter of the year is also the beginning of the new academic year. Bosana students focused all of their energy on classes and, towards the end of the quarter, on their midterms. Students who were accepted into our scholarship program this year have found organizations where they will volunteer during their next few years and have adjusted to the new schedule and their new obligations quite well. As always, besides classes, midterms and volunteering, our students found time for additional educational activities, which will help them excel in their respective fields.

The scholarship program received a noteworthy donation in November, thanks to our longterm supporter and first Bosana mentor, Tea Sisic. Tea’s employer Hired, Inc. donated five laptops for five lucky Bosana students. It is very hard for studentsto have to wait on their friends and roommates to borrow their laptops to complete their assignments and universities usually have very limited number of public computers. These donations are a tremendous help to our program and our students.

Highlights of the quarter:

We are excited to report all these exciting news about our students:

• Galib earned his BA degree back in May, and just this this past month, he received his first official job offer. To Galib, community service and volunteerism were always a priority and we are very proud that these experiences helped him find employment.

• Our student Benjamin was a Speaker at the 4th International Social Research and Behavioral Sciences Symposium in Antalya AKEV University.

• Benjamin and his co-author and friend Lama have published a beautifully illustrated children's book called "Heroes without Capes". They want to show us that heroes are present everywhere around us and that it is our task to recognize them. In the book, difficulties, limits, borders do not exist - only love, potential and opportunities do!

• We are proud to share that our student Adi received the “Golden Plaque” at his University in Mostar, which is given out to students who exemplify excellent academic achievement. Adi received this recognition for the second year in a row, distinguishing his academic success as a student with highest GPA in 2018/2019 academic year.

• Bosana friendships last even after college graduation. Our former students Milena from Bijeljina and Denis from Bihac worked on a project together in Banja Luka. The project was called “60 White Roses” and it is a project focused on peacebuilding, peacekeeping, and civilian victims of war.

• Dzelila volunteers at the “Lotus” organization in Zenica, and during the month of October she held a workshop for members of this organization. The workshop was part of the project called “Prevention of violence against children in digital environment” and this project was implemented by the organization “Hope and Homes for Children in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

• Selena and Saima, two medical students attended Winter Medical Congres for young doctors and medical students in Zagreb. Selena studies at Medical University in Foca while Saima is a student at Medical University in Tuzla. They have both shared their excitement after the four-day program, where they had the oportunity to learn directly from experts and to make new friendships with students and doctors from around the world.

Bosana comes full circle with Bosana students alumni network. Bosana students are now giving back to the next generations of Bosana students. Alumni network had one of the first working sessions solely organized and run on their ideas. Denis, Esma, Amila and Lejla had a Skype meeting where they discussed their ideas for the alumni program.

“Students for Humanity” project is still thriving . Bosana students are all setting aside part of their monthly scholarship funds for their own humanitarian projects. This year, even students that have already graduated have decided to contribute to this project.

Funds collected during the second part of the year were used for three different projects. In October, our students donated to Aida and Miroslav, two hard-working students who needed financial assistance to continue their studies. Aida is a senior at the International University of Sarajevo and Miroslav is a fourth year student at the University of East Sarajevo. Bosana students donated 1000 BAM to each student, to cover their tuition and other academic expenses in order to be able to finish their final year and graduate.

Students have also donated part of their funds to former Bosana student Selma’s project “Get the Heck to School”. Selma started a project which provides educational opportunities for Roma girls in Bihac. The goal of this project is to support Roma girls so that they can stay in school, encourage further education, and lower the rate of child marriages within the Roma population.

Links:

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BOSANA FOUNDATION

Scholarship and Personal Development Program

Quarterly Report

July - September 2019

Executive Summary:

This is the most exciting and rewarding quarter for our students and all Bosana staff members. The exam season comes to an end and the time to slow down and relax begins. It is time for summer internships and conferences, as well as Bosana Student gatherings!

As usual, Bosana scholarship application process was held during the summer break and we are happy to announce that we have accepted a new group of students into our programs.

And perhaps the most noteworthy announcement this quarter is that one of our former Bosana students has become a Bosana employee! A last year’s graduate, Lejla was selected for the Bosana Field Liaison position based on her outstanding volunteer experience with nonprofit organizations, which distinguished her from other applicants.

Students and Program Update:

Scholarship Application Process. Throughout the first two weeks of August we received over 80 scholarship applications from students all across Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each year, our Selection Committee has a tough decision to make because we have a lot of deserving, brilliant and driven youth who apply to be a part of our scholarship program. The Bosana Selection Committee reviewed all aplications and selected a group of students from the application pool to proceed through the interview stage. These students were interviewed in the first half of September. After a meticulous review of the applications, interviews of the top candidates, and Committee consultations, nine (9) students were accepted into the Bosana Scholarship Program and additional five (5) into our Professional Development Program.

Summer Break. After the exam season came to an end, some students went back home to study, while others went to spend time with their family and friends. A number of Bosana students decided to continue with their professional development by way of completing internships, attending seminars, or presenting at conferences. Turkey was the most popular destination this summer amongst our students who took part in various conferences, trainings, camps, summer classes, and internships.

Team Building and Award Season. The Annual Bosana Student Team Building was organized at the beginning of August. Our students enjoyed river rafting on river Una in Bosanska Krupa and other team building activities. Our students Denis and Aida who organized this gathering received a special recognition and a financial award for their time and efforts. We also announced the winner of the Bosana’s Student of the Year award - Stipan. Another award went to Senita for her exceptional commitment and volunteering.

Highlights of the quarter:

We are excited to report all these positive news about our students:

• Amina earned her B.A. degree in Financial Management at the University of Economics in Sarajevo. Amina will continue her studies and in the next academic year she will enroll into graduate program at the same university.

• Mediha graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry in Sarajevo at the end of this quarter. While still working on her thesis, Mediha was officially offered a job in her hometown Gracanica as a technical professor at local Dentistry High School.

• Dragana graduated from the University of Law in Banja Luka just this year and is now working at the local municipality.

• While working on finalizing her Master’s Degree, our student Sanela was offered a one year paid internship in Sarajevo as engineer of investment preparations.

• Our former student Milena started her first post-graduate job as a Project Coordinator at the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bijeljina, BIH. She graduated from the University in Banja Luka with a degree in Political Science.

• Ivana completed her internship in Turkey through the program of International Federation of Medical Students’ Association. She was thrilled to be a part of the program where she met students from different parts of the world, traveled through Turkey and observed surgeries in several hospitals.

• Nejra attended an international volunteer camp in Istanbul, Turkey.

• Zenajda and Romana also travelled to Turkey with student associations from their respective universities.

• Sedin was part of the ERASMUS program in Germany during July and August.

“Students for Humanity” project is still active. Bosana students are all still setting aside part of their monthly scholarship funds for their own humanitarian projects. This year, even students that have already graduated have decided to contribute to this project. At this time, students are waiting to collect a larger sum while they are looking for a new project to support.