College education for 10 talented students in BiH

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Scholarship and Personal Development Program

Quarterly Report

July-September 2017

Executive Summary:

Summers are usually a time for relaxation and spending time with family and friends. Our students got a little bit of a break at the beginning of summer but the second part was filled with fun activities and preparations for the exam season. We had our student gathering in Banjaluka at the beginning of August, while September was reserved for final exams and graduations.

Students and Program Update:

September is the busiest month for us and our students; graduations, new student applications and final exams are all scheduled during this month. Many have completed their last requirements and are ready to start taking classes, to begin with the new semester and new academic year.   Our students had another successful year. We have a number of students that graduated this year. We have accepted five new students, three for Bosana scholarship program and two that will be part of professional development program. We also transferred three of our professional development program students who were selected to the program last year into our scholarship program. This means that now they will also receive financial assistance from Bosana Foundation.

As mentioned, apart from few exceptions, students who are part of the professional development program do not receive monetary help, but they are part of all other Bosana activities and have access to all resources available to our scholarship recipients.

This year we have quite a few graduates and couple of our students will finish their masters.  Nine students have either graduated in September after passing last of their exams or they will graduate by the end of the year. One student will also complete his Masters degree by 2018.

Highlights of the quarter:

• Our student Katica has successfully defended her master thesis on July 5^th and she received her master’s degree from the University of Mostar, Faculty of Law.

• Our student Selma passed her state exam last day of August and is now a certified technician.

• Our student Anela graduated with highest honors last week of September. Her diploma paper theme was highly praised by her professors, thesis she chose was never researched in BiH and they believe that she could continue working on her project and apply it in practice. Anela will be starting with her graduate studies this October.

• Our student Denis graduated one day after Anela, with highest grade and now he holds his BA in genetics. He will be starting his graduate school in October this year.

• Sanela defended her diploma paper at the end of September as well. She got her BA in Electrical Engineering and she will start taking graduate classes as of October this year.

• Mirzet also passed all his exams and is now working on his master’s thesis. Right now he is finishing up his field work and is hoping to defend his thesis in the next couple of months.

• Benjamin presented his paper at the 8th International Symposium on Art and Science in Life Potential Development held in Split, Croatia this September. We are very proud of Benjamin and his work, because only a handful of students get an opportunity to present at an event like this one. His paper was titled “Theatre Performance as a form of psychosocial support for children and parents of children with leukemia”.

Bosana student gathering was held in Banjaluka this year. It was different from the previous gathering, since it was in the more urban area and we were staying in city rather than in the rural areas. The heat was an undesirable aspect, but that did not stop students from enjoying their time in Banjaluka, visiting local monuments and hiking the most popular trail on the outskirts of town.

Our three students from Banjaluka, Amar, Milena and Dragana organized this gathering. First day was started with group games and competition; groups of students followed clues and were tasked with taking pictures of monuments around town in order to reach designated destination. First group to figure out the meeting point was the winner. Next day, or at least the first part of the day, was designated for hiking. After the long hike we visited local beach because one cannot visit Banjaluka and not spend time by Vrbas River.

In the evening we gathered in the local park to discuss student progress, their project success, future projects and ideas on how to improve the time they spend volunteering so it can be useful once they start looking for employment. Students were happy to see each other and exchange their ideas; the time was short but well spent. We are all looking forward to the next gathering.

Additional updates:

One of Bosana young volunteers, currently in high school, approached Bosana Foundation wanting to help kids in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He invested a lot of time and effort into the realization of the Eagle Scout Service project. From the very start he pointed out that he didn't want to just execute any project that would satisfy his Eagle Scout requests -- he wanted more and with the support of his amazing parents, friends and fellow Scouts, he outdid even his own expectations. Adi managed to collect close to 40 backpacks filled with school supplies for the marginalized youth in BiH that crave education but are missing basic needs to help them realize that dream. His success lays not only in the backpacks that he managed to collect but in the way he did it and the community of people that he got involved to work together and care about the youth in BIH.

Bosana Foundation founder and our program coordinator of the Afterschool Program in Zenica joined forces with the association of national minorities in order to find the most disadvantaged families. Carefully selected group of Roma children received backpacks filled with school supplies to prepare them for the upcoming school year.

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Scholarship and Personal Development Program

Quarterly Report

April - June 2017

Executive Summary:

Bosana 8^th Annual Benefit featuring Bosnian Born Exhibit was an evening filled with art, live music and diverse audience who came to support BIH art and education and empowerment of BIH youth. We were particularly honored that our former student, Selma Selman, who is also an artist herself was part of this exhibit and she addressed the attendees during our annual event. Aside from the support of our attendees, we are above all grateful to our amazing 30+ volunteers who helped make this event possible.

Bosana received close to $50,000 through ticket sales, art sales, and donations, which will help us continue running our scholarship program for the upcoming year. The “Bosnian Born” Exhibit has visited 4 cities around the US and has been seen by more than 100,000 individuals, and it also helped raise close to $20,000 for our programs over the years.

Students and Program Update:

Exam season is in full swing; most students have already completed their first round of exams and are now preparing for the new round that will start in July. In the past couple of months our students have completed their midterms and have started with the final exams. We will know the final results next month; however, results our students received so far are very promising.

This year we have quite a few graduates and couple of our students will finish their masters.  

Students expected to graduate are: Anela Z., Denis S., Imane B., Jasmina P., Jasmina F., Josip J., Sanela M., Svjetlana P., Katica G. (master) and Mirzet O. (master).

Highlights of the quarter:

• Mirzet O. once again was one of the best students in his graduating class. He passed all his exams in a record time and is now ready to complete his Masters Degree. He has already started sending his job applications, responses have been scarce and he understands that today’s job market is difficult, but he is determined to find employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has sent over 400 applications to various institutions looking for employment.

• Adnan H., who graduated recently, already received a job offer. He is waiting to receive his visa papers since his job will take him to Germany. We are sad to see him leave Bosnia but we are very happy that he has a very bright future ahead of him.

• Benjamin A. attended VIII International Scientific-Professional Conference “Improving the Quality of Life of Children and Youth” which was held from 23^rd-25^th of June in Arandelovac (Serbia). The conference addressed life of young people, quality of their life and how to improve and support them. Benjamin submitted his paper called “Drama workshops as a model of raising cultural awareness” and was invited to actively participate and present his findings. This was a great honor for Benjamin as well as opportunity for his future research.

• Amar T., one of the students accepted last year, will be part of the Erasmus student exchange program in the following academic year. He will be spending his next semester in Maribor, Slovenia taking classes at the University of Maribor. Spending a semester abroad is always beneficial for every student, it changes their perspective on culture, language skills and it teaches them new life experiences and they come back home ready to take on new challenges. We are happy to continue supporting Amar in his new academic endeavor.

Additional updates:

Aside from our annual event and beginning of exam season, this quarter has been fairly ordinary. Our students have focused all their energy on getting the best results possible.

We are also very excited about our annual gathering and team building.   This year the plan is to visit Banjaluka in the first half of August. It should be a nice break from the exams, students will get to visit a new part of the country that some of them have never visited and spend time with their Bosana family. Yearly team-building exercises are always beneficial to us and our students.