Scholarship students of the Hastor Foundation who have the mentor status have an immensely important task, role, and responsibility because through their positive examples, they serve as role models and inspiration to younger scholarship holders within the Foundation and the surrounding community. This month, we introduce you to our twenty- two-year-old Indira Džanić, who comes from Ćoseti, a small settlement near Brčko. Indira completed her high school education at the Agricultural and Medical School in Brčko and is currently attending the Medical Faculty at the University of Tuzla. As a holder of the Hastor Foundation scholarship of thirteen years, she currently volunteers as the leader of the mentor coordinator team.
Indira signed her first scholarship agreement in the fifth grade of elementary school. The experience gained as a scholarship recipient of the Hastor Foundation is something that has accompanied her throughout her education, significantly shaping her personality. Over the years, she has met many people in the field of medicine and various other areas, considering it one of the greatest advantages of being a Hastor Foundation scholarship holder. Spending countless hours studying different topics has contributed to her becoming a versatile person with broad perspectives on the world. Volunteering throughout these years has been diverse. Constructive discussions, conversations with peers, travel, various lectures, and navigating unpredictable situations helped her master public speaking skills, lecture preparation, and conducting various types of training.
Volunteering in the local community made her aware of characteristics such as humanity and the importance of helping others. As she herself expresses, she often finds herself in situations where she conveys the motives and goals of the Foundation to those around her. Through dialogue with Indira, we understood that this is, among other things, one of the main goals of the Hastor Foundation – spreading kindness and helping others!
Indira currently volunteers in the Foundation as the leader of the mentor coordinator team, whose role is to support mentors in the terrain. Their goal is to optimize students’ volunteer engagement and highlight ways to maximize the use of volunteer hours. Additionally, her team oversees the productivity of student volunteering.
As favorite moments, Indira cherishes the smiles she manages to bring to the faces of people she encounters with her colleagues during volunteering. The feeling that accompanies her through volunteer obligations for her is an irreplaceable driving factor towards improving her personality, but also the environment in which she lives.
Indira has nurtured a great love for the world of science since childhood. She consistently highlighted her special passion for studying the processes of the human body, considering it a perfect mechanism that we should preserve and nurture in the best possible way. The humane aspect of this profession is one of the main factors that has tied her to the medical field.
When asked about the decision-making process for choosing her college, she mentioned that she never had any doubts because, in the third year of high school, during her first contact with specialized and clinical subjects, she decided that medicine was the right choice for her and her life’s calling.
This brave and ambitious student believes that, for any job, it is crucial to find the thread that will connect us to it:
I believe that healthcare professionals, whether doctors, technicians, pharmacists, or any other group of healthcare workers, must possess two qualities: a desire for learning and understanding the human body, and a desire to help. Through high school and practical experience, I discovered these qualities within myself, and I couldn’t find a better way to leverage them than by embarking on the journey of medicine.
As Indira puts it, medicine as a scientific field offers an opportunity for constant growth, learning, and self-improvement, allowing the exploration of oneself through understanding the (dys)functioning of the human body, listening to the body, and optimizing one’s own and others’ lives. Moreover, studying various medical fields provides an opportunity for personal and character development across countless spheres of life. Daily exposure to different challenges and facing numerous difficulties teaches us the true values of life and emphasizes the importance of seizing every minute and each day as if they were the last.
Besides her academic responsibilities and volunteering, Indira spends her time in the gym and explores nutrition to improve her health and well-being. She shares this content on the TikTok social network to motivate others. In conclusion, she sends a powerful message:
My message to all scholarship recipients is to seize every opportunity life offers, embrace all good chances and opportunities. Through the Foundation, we have the chance to develop into strong, capable individuals with high selfconfidence and to form friendships that will mark our lives. Let’s learn to enjoy life, and we can truly do that with the Hastor Foundation!
Prepared by: Hana Kolasević
