College education for 10 talented students in BiH

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.

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Scholarship and Personal Development Program

Quarterly Report

April-June 2019

Executive Summary:

This reporting period has been marked by few exciting events for our students. Spring semester is coming to an end, students completed their midterms and started taking their final exams. Several students graduated in the past three months while many others are getting closer to their goals. BOSANA organized a workshop for our junior and senior students to prepare them for the next phase of their professional journey. In the next quarter, BOSANA will open application process for the next academic year and select new scholarship students. BOSANA’s notable acomplishments are testament to our extraordinary suporters. Our work would not be possible without the support of our valued donors, volunteers and community partners.

Students and Program Update:

BOSANA students have been busy this quarter with lectures, the end of semester, midterms and start of the final exams. Midterms are over now and majority of our students are halfway into their final exams. Thus far, results have been commendable, however, we still have to wait until the end of July to have all results available.

We are waiting on our students who are seniors to complete all their requirements. So far we had four students who officially graduated in May and June, and we are expecting more graduations by the end of this year.

Several students attended conferences while some presented their work at international conferences. During this semester we had a few students that were part of the exchange program and there will be couple more that will spend some time abroad during this summer. It is important to emphasize that these exchange programs are very competitive and students have to earn their rights to be part of the program.

“Kick start Your Career”

BOSANA organized a workshop for our students that are either in their last college year or have recently graduated. Training was divided into two sections taught over two weekends. “Kickstart your Career” workshop was tailored specifically for BOSANA students with focus on creating their professional biographies, resumes, cover letters, interview skills, time management, working in teams and other skills relevant for today’s job market. This is one more training in line that is designed to help our students build additional skills to help distinguish them from the rest of the graduates that are coming into the job market.

Highlights of the quarter:

We are excited to report numerous positive news about our students:

• Dragana K. earned her Law degree at the University of Banjaluka in May.

• Galib G. earned his degree in Social Pedagogy. His thesis was titled “Family abuse as the indicator of the current status of Zenica-Doboj Canton” for which he received a perfect score.

• Ivana N. completed all her requirements at the University of East Sarajevo- Faculty of Medicine Foca. BOSANA family now has one more doctor of medicine.

• Denis S. earned his M.A. degree in Biology-Genetics at the University of Sarajevo.

• Benjamin Avdic presented his article “Parents as co-therapist in education and rehabilitation of children with developmental disorders” at the 10^th International Scientific-Vocational Conference focused on “promotion of the quality of life of children and young” in Istanbul, Turkey. Benjamin was part of the organizing board for this conference.

• Jasmina, our former student who is now gainfully employed, is BOSANA’s newest donor.

• Josip completed his ERASMUS exchange in Poland and is coming back to Mostar to take his final exams.

• Saima, our medical student from Tuzla was coordinator for the Special Olympics Friends Competition. This is a main annual event but the project is active during the rest of the year and she is part of this ongoing project.

Furthermore, Saima is going to spend a month in Poland, at the Medical University of Lublin as an exchange student through International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations. During this exchange Saima will be working on a special project in neurology called “Modifying the anticonvulsive activity of antiepileptic drugs by gap-junction blockers”.

• Ivana B. will spend a month in Turkey as an exchange student, also through program of International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations. Ivana’s focus will be general surgery. As part of this exchange, Ivana will work on her surgical practice, learn about different approaches in various hospitals in Turkey, and observe procedures that are not part of the standard curriculum in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She will have opportunity to visit one of the best hospitals in Turkey as well as several different cities.

“Students for Humanity”

Our student led project is still active. BOSANA students are still setting aside part of their monthly scholarship for their own humanitarian projects. Former students, which have graduated in the past years, have decided to contribute to this project. At this time, students are waiting to collect larger sum while they are looking for a new project to support.