College education for 10 talented students in BiH

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Scholarship and Personal Development Program

Quarterly Report

April- June 2018

Executive Summary:

We have very exciting news to report for this quarter because it has been a very successful quarter for many reasons. First, Bosana 9th Annual Benefit was the most successful event for our organization. Bosana volunteers and supporters, like every year, have made this event possible and have helped us collect close to $80,000. This is almost double from what we have made during our last event and thanks to this success, we cannot wait to add new students to our growing family. This year, two Bosana students attended the event and were able to share their stories of how much this Foundation is doing to make their education possible. This was certainly the most notable part of the benefit. Our student have also completed most of their classes and the exams season is in full swing. We already have a few 2018 graduates and the number should only grow in the next quarter.

Students and Program Update:

Aside from a number of student graduates this quarter, our students also had few professional opportunities to help them advance personally and professionally. Two of our students presented their research papers at the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences conference. This annual conference brings together experts from the region and all over the world, facilitating networking and learning so for our students this was a great opportunity to meet individuals in their field and connect with them professionally. The feedback they received was only positive and each of the received direct contact with experts to offered to be their mentors and help them further develop their research. Amila presented at ISAME 2018 on Advances in Mechanical Engineering while Anela presented on her work about Multiple myeloma.  

Two Bosana students who are future mechanical and electrical engineers also had a chance to visit @APLab in Sarajevo. The visit was organized for Bosana students to show them opportunities in IT sector, to learn about new technologies and challenges, as well as three-month educational programming course that if the students complete successfully, they would be offered jobs in the company. This is a great opportunity for our graduating students to have something to look forward to that could also result in obtaining an employment.

Finally, one of our students was also accepted into the Coca-Cola Program that lasts 10 weeks where students are exposed to various trainings, professional development opportunities, and if they perform well, they are offered full time employment. This informal partnership with Coca-Cola that we have established to give such opportunities to our students is a great way for our students to gain experience and new opportunities.

Highlights of the quarter:

• Amila B. completed her master’s degree in June. She successfully defended her master’s thesis, which was selected among top five best theses at her university. Amila received an acclamation from the Dean for her outstanding academic work. She also got an internship for 6 months which she started July 1^st that if completed successfully will turn into a full time employment.

• Jasmine F. graduated at the beginning of June and obtained a BA in Turkish Language and Literature.

• Emina P. completed her B.A. law degree. She is looking for an internship opportunity or to possibly start her MA. degree.

• University of Vermont donated 6 laptops to our students who did not have laptops but needed them for use at the university. To date, this is the largest donation we have received and its all thanks to one of our donors who saw a post that another donor donated her laptop.   This is a perfect example how good inspires more good.

Students’ Humanitarian Project:

Bosana students are still setting aside part of their monthly scholarship for their own humanitarian projects.

During this quarter, they have agreed to help one student from Sanski Most, who is trying to get a space for youth organization so young people from her town would have a place of their own to collaborate on projects to improve their local community, as well as a place to gather for cultural, educational or fun activities. The first phase of the project would be an organization and registration of the NGO, which is already in process but requires additional funding. The second phase is a clean up, repainting and preparing the outside area of the space for utilization. They would like to clean and pain the yard, provide some seating, basketball area etc. Bosana students would like to support this project, provide financial support for the second phase – money for the paint, cleaning supplies to make it a usable space. They will sign a contract and follow the progress, hoping to provide some long-term solutions for the youth in this town.

Conclusion:

Overall, this was a very successful quarter because we managed to raise the most funds with our Annual Benefit to date, our students received some great professional development opportunities and we have a large number of students who are preparing to graduate this year. So, it has been a very successful quarter that will also be remembered as a very successful school year.