The Rubric of Active Youth is a rubric of our Newsletter where we present stories of our most accomplished scholarship recipients. We are faced with a challenge because every accomplishment of our scholarship recipients are a source of endless motivation not only for their fellow scholarship recipients, but the readers of Newsletter, too. In this month’s Newsletter we are given the honor of introducing Venesa Karić, our scholarship recipient who comes from Zenica where she had completed her primary and high school education. She is currently a fourth-year-student majoring in Digital Communications and Public Relations at the Faculty of Education and Humanities, the International Burch University. Keep reading to discover Venesa’s journey of success and the role the Hastor Foundation played in it.

We realized through our interview with Venesa that young people like her truly value their time and use it in the best way possible. Free time and productivity for Venesa represent the time spent in quality aspects of her life that will inspire, fulfil and take her to the next level. She strives to help her community with her knowledge and positive change, and she views the Hastor Foundation as a space that aids her on that mission in various ways. Venesa currently volunteers as the social media team leader, and points out how she has developed her communication and leadership skills through this type of volunteer work; not only this, but as a student she also has had the opportunity to practically apply her knowledge. Volunteer work has significantly influenced Venesa’s life and she says all the best about it:

I gained my first volunteer experience in the senior year of high school when I had become a member of the international non-governmental organization AIESEC. After that I began to search for more opportunities in my community; I was part of various non-governmental organizations such as PRONI – Center for Youth Development, the Rotaract Club where I was president, and the Erasmus Student Network. I have to specially mention my volunteer work at the Hastor Foundation, where I had the opportunity to acquire countless new skills and apply the knowledge gained at the faculty.

Besides the mentioned volunteer work, Venesa has completed non-formal education programs such as SHL – Academy for Young Leaders in Civil Society, AFW – Academy of Political Literacy for Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina and proposal writing training for BOLD projects. Thanks to the BOLD grant – Venesa being one of its recipients – she will participate in the project “CareerLeap Summit” that will be held in May this year. Venesa dances in her free time, and she has tried out numerous dance styles, some of them being classical, modern, Latina and social dances and character ballet. She was also part of the ballet ensemble at ArsCenter, Zenica.

Venesa didn’t stop there. She used the opportunities that the Erasmus scheme offers to visit the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and other European countries. She is currently one of the two representatives for Bosnia and Herzegovina on the training for leaders of intercultural exchanges. This program is realized by OFAJ and VCV; the last stage of the program will be held in May this year in Serbia.

Due to all the mentioned positive experiences, Venesa highlights the fact that she has, over time, become more approachable, open-minded and very self-confident, and how her volunteer work at the Hastor Foundation has played a significant part in it because she faced various challenges and learned how to overcome them. She has learned to cherish differences, not fear new adventures and not give up when faced with challenges and obstacles.

Venesa’s message to her fellow scholarship recipients and other young people is to use the benefits of volunteer work, which is an ideal opportunity for them – she herself is an example of it. Thanks to the accumulated volunteer experience, Venesa got the opportunity to enroll in the faculty of her choice, which she is soon graduating from. Venesa has travelled a lot, met other cultures, and gained invaluable friendships and acquaintanceships which, for her, is the greatest treasure in life.

Prepared by: Hana Kolasević

Translated by: Sara Kuduzović