After completing their studies, Hastor Foundation scholarship holders remain tied to the Foundation as a root to a tree. Such roots are difficult to break because of the connection that can be extremely strong, unbreakable, and full of positive emotions and wonderful memories to the period of schooling that remained behind them. This is how former scholarship holders of the Hastor Foundation nurture connection with the Hastor Foundation, which was often their main pillar and support in life. Time passes and people face various changes and many memories fade when they are replaced with new and more interesting events. Just one, in the life of every scholarship holder, no matter what age, remains the same – commitment to the Hastor Foundation. This month we bring you the story of former scholarship holder Senada Podžić.

Senada Podžić tells her story from Žepa. She was born in 1997. After she finished Gazi Husrev Bey’s madrasa, Senada enrolled in the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Sarajevo, Department of Biology. Her story stands out because, as Senada says, she entered the university at 17 years old, and graduated at the age of 21. She received the title of the youngest master’s degree a year later, getting her master’s degree at the age of 22.

Senada has been a scholarship holder of the Hastor Foundation since the fifth grade of primary school. Near the end of the fifth grade, when teacher Ramo visited her place, together with other students from Žepa, Senada received a scholarship from the Hastor Foundation. They were also one of the first 200 scholarship holders of the Foundation. After the school in her town closed due to an insufficient number of students, Senada continued her education in Sarajevo.

During this period, when she was separated from her parents and continued her education in Sarajevo, she points out that it fell harder than all life changes that happened before. She was a total of thirteen years, in ccontinuity, a scholarship recipients of the Hastor Foundation, and she points out that she often found her only solace in the Hastor Foundation. She was, for five years, a mentor to students of different ages, and those are the meetings from which she keeps the most beautiful memories.

The foundation played a key role in my life. In addition to the financial and moral support that it provided, it made me more independent, stronger, persistent, and patient. I gained unforgettable experiences as well as practice through volunteering.

In addition, she believes that volunteering with children gave her more than a good foundation for her future call, a professor’s call.

Thanks to the scholarship, Senada financed her own education, but with volunteer hours she worked on herself and her self-confidence every day, created new goals, studied, and tried to make her dreams come true. Enrolling in university was a special challenge. Lots of expenses, a big family, and income is minimal.

After entering university, the costs became higher.  I was a tenant, I paid rent, bills, food, transport, and books. If it wasn’t for the scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to do it, because my father’s salary was a minimum of around 200 KM, and we had three children in the family. The Foundation had a really great role in that aspect as well.

Senada is currently working as a teaching assistant with children who have developmental difficulties in Elementary School “Alija Nametak”, the school she herself attended, and she points out that it is a special honor for her to sit on the other side of the benches and reminisce with her current work about her days of education.

I am extremely honored to work in this school, with the teachers who taught me, considering that I was a student at this school.

In her spare time, she likes to read books and go to educational lectures, and she points out that during the holidays she goes to her parents in Žepa to help them with their household chores.

My wish is to do the job for which I was educated in the future, which is the job of a teacher of biology. I really like working with children and transferring knowledge to younger generations and that process is one of my biggest inspirations.

At the end, Senada says: I would tell all scholarship recipients of the Hastor Foundation to study and to strive to be part of this big-hearted family for as long as possible. Also, they need to make the Foundation even more successful with the dedicated work they make, because the Foundation deserves that, but during that journey they also need to develop their abilities.

Senada’s story is just one of a series of special stories of scholarship holders who have passed through the Hastor Foundation, took the best from it, and left her the best version of herself.  Reading the stories of our alumni we realize that it is worth supporting and encouraging the young people of this country on their way of education, because their successes are the best proof of the correctness and humanity of our mission.

 

Prepared by: Adelisa Begić

Translated by: Omer Muminović