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Amna Dervišagić

Official IYMC Ambassador

Amna Dervišagić
Accomplished Ambassador
(Score: 740)

Bosanska Krupa, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ju Opća Gimnazija Bosanska Krupa

I was born in Bosanska Krupa, a small town in the northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina and seated on the banks of rivers Una and Krušnica. As the third child in a working family, I spent my childhood in a poor neighborhood called „Pilana” (named due to the vicinity of a wood processing factory that employed the majority of the town's population.) Science had gradually become my greatest fascination, from the moments I read the books “Yan Bibiyan on the Moon” and “Atomino”. Studying mathematics in the Faculty of Science of the University in Zagreb, I moved on and graduated physics in Banjaluka (Department of Physics). During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I was working in several „war schools” to which I had to walk for miles. By the end of the war, I managed to escape to the territory of the Republic of Croatia, where I started to volunteer in the extraterritorial school „Marne“. I’d volunteered with the purpose of admitting and educating Bosnia and Herzegovina's children-refugees in Croatia. Those were the experiences through which I had realized that being a teacher is a state of mind and a lifestyle, that is founded on the love towards children, on endless patience, perseverance, optimism and creativity. By experiencing the light and positivity that could be found in the minds of my students, even during the tragedies of the war, I’d learned that with the teaching profession came rewards far greater than any sacrifices I could’ve ever made. I especially emphasize the seminar-workshop: „Service Teacher Training Workshop” organized by the USAID during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABEL2, by Creative Associates International, Inc.), Stubicke Toplice Through which I gathered the necessary skills of working with traumatized student-refugees: The Brainstorm method of creative thinking, the Tyler's model of curriculum development, the issues concerning school discipline, Dale's cone of experience, the prevention and battle with child wartime PTSP, Ellis' ABC model, Cog's model of group development, Giraffe's classroom. Being a teacher was never only a profession, hobby or job. I do not work as a teacher, I live as a teacher. Spending over 20 years in education, I’ve always given preference towards developing students’ individual abilities of observing and describing the universe around them


Contact: amnderviagi(at)amb.iymc.info View Full Team