AUBG seniors Viktoria Nikolova and Iren Dimitrova, together with junior Aleksandar Ivanov, were among 49 student leaders worldwide, along with Dean Sabina А. Wien who attended the 11th Annual Get Engaged Student Action and Youth Leadership Conference in Berlin on June 24-July 1, 2024.
Student participants from 22 partner universities, representing 50 different countries, took part in workshops, engaged in an “Ideas Incubator,” and presented their own civic engagement projects. Viktoria’s project One Click Away offers free psychological consultation for young adults through an online platform.
Viktoria shared how valuable it was to connect with other liberal arts universities and future leaders, and how they got the chance to “talk with them, exchange experiences, exchange good practices, exchange difficulties”.
“We can support each other, we can inspire each other. I think it is a great network that should continue developing,” she concluded.
Aleksandar successfully trained students from a Blagoevgrad high school to compete in debates. His participation at the Get Engaged conference was beneficial in terms of attending workshops, meeting new people and having the opportunity to present his project.
“It was very an intensive experience, but very interesting and impactful,” he added.
Iren presented the World Refugee Day event, themed “Home Away from Home,” celebrated in Blagoevgrad in 2023 in partnership with UNHCR Bulgaria and local community leaders. She was inspired by the impact that the OSUN conference brought on participants.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for students to develop because they offer different ways for you to improve as a leader, as a global citizen,” Iren said.
Representing AUBG as an OSUN Civic Engagement Coordinator and Steering Committee member, Dean of Students Sabina A. Wien mentored the three students.
“These people will be the leaders, the future leaders, they will remain friends and partners. I think this is the biggest added value of this conference, to really bring the people together physically, to let them collaborate with one another to work on projects from the very beginning of the meetingit connects us to other liberal arts universities and other future leaders, and we have the chance to talk with them, exchange experiences, exchange good practices, exchange difficulties,” Dean Wien shared on the value of the conference.
Hosted by Bard College Berlin and the Hertie School, the conference was organized by the OSUN Civic Engagement Initiative Team.
At AUBG, we are proud to promote leadership and civic engagement as core skills taught both in and outside the Liberal Arts classroom. All three student civic engagement projects were selected to receive a microgrant from the OSUN Civic Engagement Initiative through AUBG’s Community and Civic Engagement Fund in Spring ’23 and Spring ‘24.
