50 Stories for 50 Years: Petra Stanković ’16

June 15, 2022

To celebrate our 50th anniversary year during 2018/19, we collected stories and profiles of people and institutions that have helped us build our organization, which first began as one person’s dream in 1968. We will feature one story per week on our blog. Please enjoy these “50 for 50” profiles featuring ASSIST’s dedicated board members, dynamic staff, welcoming host families and enthusiastic ASSIST Scholars.

Petra Stanković ’16

Serbia, Western Reserve Academy

We danced during the midnight hour with an indigo sky above during ASSIST’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in Berlin. Amateur or professional, everyone had their unique rhythm and gestures, and everyone moved their extremities as if the party had no end. Despite the variety of dancing skills, nationalities, and career paths, we were one big family whose members shared ambitions and ingenious ideas.

ASSIST is much more than a bullet point for a Scholar to put in a job application. It’s a remarkable organization that enabled us to become citizens of the world. We have grown into people who are not afraid of being academically challenged, talking to eminent people tête-à-tête, and expressing our opinions freely.

The school I attended offered a world-class education, professors who were willing to listen and advise me in times of my parents’ absence, and students from four different hemispheres who assisted me in broadening my horizons. I met people from a diversity of cultures, stayed with their families during the term breaks, experienced cuisines I can still feel the taste of. And I have created sincere and love-giving friendships that have shaped me into the fearless person of character I am now.

The reflection I can see in the window of a train whilst traveling is what I owe to ASSIST, its Scholars, people who joined along the way, and professors who taught me how to cherish the opportunities I was granted.

Before I was selected as an ASSIST Scholar, my wishes were vague dreams that could not arise into something tangible. The transition period between being a Serbian high school infant and becoming a young woman who faces life-changing difficulties was long and rigorous. Ultimately, I have managed to find confidence, independence, and empathy for myself. I acquired skills that helped me find my interests and the field of study I would like to pursue.

Thanks to ASSIST, I discovered who the real Petra was.

The indigo tone of the sky became more azure, and we could almost see the sun rising somewhere far away from where we were standing. But distance, in case of us Scholars, is abstract and successfully conquered. It is just another great wisdom in the sequence of lessons ASSIST taught us.

About Petra:
Petra Stanković is one of the first two ASSIST Scholars from Serbia and is part of ASSIST’s class of 2016. She attended Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, and is currently enrolled in her penultimate year of Mathematics and English study at the University of Basel in Switzerland.