Scholarship holders of the Hastor Foundation try to be active every day both within the Foundation and in their community. Every month
one of them shows up in a special light and thus deserves to have his or her name on the pages of our newsletter.

The scholar of the month of May is Edin Šahbaz. He was born in Zenica in 2001 and grew up in Maglaj. Due to his studies, he currently lives
in Sarajevo, where he studies at the Faculty of Traffic and Communications, Department of Computer and Information Technologies. Since he is currently in his last year of undergraduate studies, he reveals to us that he plans to continue his master’s studies at the same faculty. Scholarship holder of the Month Edin points out that from an early age he had a great interest in mathematics and related sciences, and this is how his love for programming was born, which became an integral part of his life. As a primary school student, he participated in mathematics and physics competitions, which continued in high school, when he also achieved significant results in cantonal competitions. As a student, he continued the tradition of competition, albeit at a lower intensity. One such competition is the IT Open Challenge, which was of a regional type and where he qualified in the top 10 participants in the programming category out of approximately 800 applicants. He recently qualified with his team for the CodeSmash Hackathon organized by Softray Solutions. Our scholarship holder also demonstrates his programming skills through his activities in the IT team of the Hastor Foundation, which significantly improves the work of this team. What the Hastor Foundation represents to Edin and how she sees its role in her life, read below:

The Hastor Foundation has influenced the development of many of my skills. In addition to financial
help, she also helped me in the process we call growing up. While I was part of the volunteer group as
a student, I had the opportunity to learn a lot from my mentors, to whom I am grateful today. Today,
when I have the opportunity to organize meetings on my own, I feel that I can apply what I have
learned and that in a few years my mentoring and advice can be of great help to someone. Material
aid wears out, but the intangible, which we will carry with us forever by transferring knowledge and
experiences, is a true indicator of the value of the Hastor Foundation.

Edin fulfills his volunteer hours through volunteer activities with a group of high school scholarship holders from Maglaj. He liked the role of mentor
because he got the opportunity to explore a new approach in working with children. It should also be noted that Edin, since he lives in Sarajevo, regularly returns to Maglaj to organize volunteer meetings. He states that he enjoys allowing the students of his volunteer group to feel equal and that everyone gets an equal opportunity to show their talents. He tries to pass on as much useful knowledge as possible to the children he volunteers with, because his goal is that his mentoring of the scholarship holders will be
useful in the future as well.

I would like to be not only an alumni of the
Hastor Foundation in a few years, but also a
donor because I have personally experienced
how important the mission and work of this
organization is, and this is one of my life goals,
the fulfillment of which would give me great
satisfaction.

Our scholarship holders want to stay with the Hastor Foundation even after completing their education. It is important that they understand that our role never ends, it just evolves into other forms. Scholarship holders today, alumni tomorrow, and someday – who knows, maybe even donors. Donors are special people in our lives. Edin’s volunteer story is one of those that speak of the beauty of the Hastor Foundation family and the expediency of investing in young people, trying to show them the true values of life. Our scholarship holders have been recognizing the charm of giving for years and strive to be the reason for a child’s happiness whenever and however they can.