Everything you can dream, you can achieve!
No matter where you are on Earth and how big your dreams are, never give up on creating your path towards their realization, and life will undoubtedly arrange the pieces and send you a true friend to help you along the way. Proof of this is our scholarship recipient Inela Hodžić, who comes from Travnik and is a student at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Zenica.
Inela became a scholarship recipient of the Hastor Foundation back in 2015, and she found out about it thanks to friends. She volunteered for four years as a student, and then, upon enrolling in college, she also became a mentor. Inela mentioned that the best effect of mentoring is, in fact, the fact that friendships are born there. She always tried to be a friend and a role model to her students. All mentors of the Foundation are guiding stars to the students they work with at some point. Inela wanted to selflessly impact young people and make them even better and more successful:
Through volunteering with high school students, I truly learned to deal with responsibility. I organized a large number of workshops and presentations through which I improved myself and overcame the fear and stage fright I had during presentations. Whether I liked it or not, I told myself that I had to do it for the students I was mentoring and, in a way, being a role model for. I was the guiding star for them during a certain period of their lives. I wanted to impact young people so that they could be better at everything than me at their age. I paid attention to what was a problem for me at that time and could not allow them to struggle with those problems, so I always tried to be both a friend and a mentor to them simultaneously.
As a student gifted in many areas, Inela decided to pass on her knowledge to younger generations through the STEM Academy, where she took a group of students to the World Robotics Competition in Panama in November of this year! Every time carries its burden, but also new experiences, knowledge, and feelings that build a better personality – of course, if we use it appropriately as our advantage. When asked how the competition in Panama came about and what her beginnings looked like, Inela told us:
Of course, at the beginning, it is never easy, and we all think that we will not succeed, that maybe what we are doing is not for us. However, when we make an effort and give our best, success is inevitable, and the satisfaction that comes with it is something that truly fulfills a person and motivates them for further work. Then we realize that everything we have worked for was not in vain and that we can draw a lesson from it and gain experience that will give us a boost.
Inela also emphasizes that, together with her group of students, she managed to see another part of the world, new cultures, and people, gaining significant experiences that will benefit her future work. The journey to the World Robotics Olympiad followed after winning first place in the national competition held in May of this year in Zenica.
With tremendous support and assistance from professors at the university, Inela and her group managed to step into the world of robotics. After a large number of training sessions, hard work, and solving tasks, they managed to win first place in the national competition and qualify for the world competition. We learn how the World Robotics Competition influenced Inela in the following:
When we truly dedicate ourselves to something we do, of course, we always expect good results, but I did not expect this much success. If someone had told me that my team led by me as a coach would win the National Robotics Competition, I would not have believed them, not to mention going to the world competition somewhere in Panama, which I always thought I would only see on the world map and in pictures on the screen.
For the conclusion of the interview, Inela expressed her desire to address younger scholarship recipients: I would advise students who are soon entering the job market to fully dedicate themselves to everything they do and are assigned. When we take responsibility for ourselves, we need to meet expectations and what we stand for. We can all really do that if we are interested in something we do.
Prepared by: Hana Kolasević and Hana Hajrić
