The Gala Academy held on Friday, September 16, in Sarajevo City hall, marked the tenth anniversary of the Hastor Foundation existence and continuous support of youth and education. Symbolically, the ceremony was held on the date of signing the first scholarship contract. This ceremony was a great opportunity for us to present to our guests the work of the Hastor Foundation; what we achieved so far, what are our plans for the future, as well to present something that makes us proud the most – achievements of our scholarship holders.
Namely, it all started in the year of 2006 when teacher Ramo started his quest for scholarship holders through rural and other populated areas far away from schools. Persistent and eager to succeed we started with 300 scholarship holders, and today, ten years later, we count 1714 scholarship holders. “During ten-year long work, the Hastor Foundation helped education of more than 2300 young people. We established an active cooperation with 98 municipalities and more than 300 schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while our scholarship holders and volunteers spent more than 100, 000 hours helping each other and working for their local communities. The Hastor Foundation has built a special system and way of work over the course of time, which made it recognizable all over Bosnia and Herzegovina”, teacher Ramo pointed out at the Ceremony, adding that if we water a plant it blooms, let alone children. If we help them, of course they will give us something in return.
“Our mission is to join all disposable financial and human resources, as well as more efficient use of these resources, in order to improve quality of education in the long term. Apart from supporting talented children/youth, the Foundation also supports marginalized children for whom education seems like insurmountable challenge due to difficult socioeconomic state they are in”, said Seid Fijuljanin, the director of the Hastor Foundation. The Gala Academy was a great chance to present the most successful former as well as, current scholarship holders; mathematicians, innovators, artists, authors, musicians as well as recipients of highest state and international acknowledgements.
The Hastor Foundation scholarship holders contribute to the work and strength of the Hastor Foundation; they created an app which will facilitate administrative work and supervising process in the Hastor Foundation. A special performance was prepared by students of Academy of Music, also scholarship holders of the Hastor Foundation, for this ceremony, which embellished the entire evening. Hopefully, the Hastor Foundation will continue to achieve success on the ten-year old foundation and to strengthen our Bosnia and Herzegovina with many educated people and leaders. ‘We go forth!,’ said a friend of the Hastor Foundation, Mr. Senad Hadzifejzovic who used this ceremony as an opportunity to convey his motives for success. Board of directors and scholarship holders addressed the audience once more with the motto ‘Education is the choice of winners’
