On Saturday, the 8th of December, the last monthly meeting of the Hastor Foundation’s college student scholarship holders in 2018 was held at the premises of ASA Prevent Group. These meetings are held throughout the entire year and they present an opportunity for the scholarship holders to talk about their personal volunteering experiences and potential difficulties they come across, and they also often have the opportunity to partake in specifically designed thematic workshops, organized with the aim of solving problems in local communities. This is when we work together on their personal improvement and offer advice on how they can be better mentors who foster the improvement of the primary and secondary school pupils, the scholarship holders of the Hastor Foundation, as well as their own. The December meeting was marked by the emphasis placed on the values that the Hastor Foundation cherishes.
At the very beginning of the meeting, the college student scholarship holders were greeted by teacher Ramo and the Foundation’s Managing Director, Seid Fijuljanin. The greater part of the meeting was then spent remembering and emphasizing what the Hastor Foundation is and what it strives to be in the future. The students had the opportunity to talk about the Foundation, praising what it has achieved so far, as well as its importance for every single scholarship holder.
The Director said that the Foundation’s initial team, right after the establishment of the Foundation, travelled across Bosnia and Herzegovina in search of potential scholarship holders, but that throughout the following years the scholarship holders selection process has changed and what was established is a reliable system which makes things easier and ensures undeniable transparency, which was, and still is, one of the key characteristics of our work. The Hastor Foundation is not devoted only to talented children and young people, but it primarily provides help to the children of poor socio-economic status. Since its establishment, the Foundation has encouraged and supported primary and secondary school pupils and college students from across Bosnia and Herzegovina. Director Fijuljanin said that the Foundation receives more than 2.500 scholarship applications a year, after which the selection process takes place and the pupils and students who will sign a scholarship contract are selected in accordance with the defined list of points.
The Hastor Foundation is one large family which continues to grow one year after another, and we hope that in the following school and academic year we will reach the number of 2.000 scholarship holders, which will makes us unique among all the other existing foundations and organizations of this type in our country, but in the region as well. “That means nearly 2.000 families, which is the lowest number of people we, and you as our scholarship holders, can make an impact on. That means nearly 2.000 people with whom you can share everything you’re experiencing within the Foundation”, said the Foundation’s Managing Director.
The Hastor Foundation puts maximum effort into preparing its scholarship holders, whose formal education is coming to its end, for the challenges of the business environment and the labor market. The experience that the students gain during the volunteer activities is of extreme significance for their future success businesswise. The Foundation’s scholarship holders managed to reach the number of 300.000 volunteer hours during the previous year, which means, as teacher Ramo pointed out, 300.000 hours spent far from all the negative things, and all those hours are spent trying to help those who are in need of it, and trying to do something valuable.
That the students are the moving force of the Hastor Foundation and its carriers throughout all these years was once again emphasized by Director Fijuljanin, who spoke of three main points in the work of the Hastor Foundation, and those are scholarship holders, activities they organize, and benefactors, who help the work of our Foundation, and hence, the formal education of many young, ambitious and talented people.
During the meeting, it was also emphasized that in the future the Foundation will continue to work on developing the entrepreneurial spirit among young people, with the aim of activating their creative potentials, and we all sincerely hope and believe that the Foundation will succeed in getting the new generations of young and educated people, academic citizens who are the true force of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the right path.
