State Secretary Vesna Humar Welcomes ASEF Junior Fellows at the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad
On Wednesday, July 3, 2024, Vesna Humar, State Secretary at the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad, welcomed four of this year’s ASEF Junior Fellows of the program Visit Slovenia, who are currently undertaking their ten-week visit to Slovenia, the homeland of their ancestors. They were joined by two mentors and last year’s Junior Fellow, who has returned to Slovenia and will be opening his art exhibition in August.
Meghan Hren and Maja Kosir from the USA, Bautista Kraševec and Daniel Leber from Argentina, and Caroline Morton from the United Kingdom shared their experiences from their successful academic journeys, discussed how they preserve Slovenian traditions and cultural heritage in their communities, and talked about their current experiences in Slovenia. They emphasized the positive aspects of the program and the importance of the opportunity to connect with their ancestral homeland. Last year’s recipient, Daniel Leber, an Argentine visual artist and art historian, invited everyone to visit his exhibition at the Nočna Izložba Pešak Gallery, which will open on August 7, 2024.
You can listen to the experiences of ASEF Junior Fellows and the State Secretary about their cooperation with the Institute and its activities in the podcast Slovencem po svetu titled “Slovenci po svetu radi pridejo od tam, kjer so doma – domov” (from the 43rd minute) and in the Radio Ognjišče archive in the episode “Štipendisti ASEF tokrat iz ZDA, VB in Argentine”.
State Secretary Vesna Humar told Radio Ognjišče: “The Foundation is doing a great job, the scholarships are of course only a part of their efforts, but what ASEF is doing to connect students, researchers, professors and business people around the world is admirable, and the Office is happy to co-finance and morally support their activities. It’s amazing what a bunch ASEF brings together every year, very interesting, ambitious, bright young people from all over the world, working in fields that are at the forefront of modern science… and it’s really interesting to hear their professional stories and also their personal stories and how they look at their roots and their identity as people who have traveled a good part of the world”. (Vesna Humar, Radio Ognjišče, July 9, 2024)
In the podcast of the first program of Radio Slovenia, among others, we can hear her remarkably positive words: “We are happy that they (the fellows) are enthusiastic about nature, culture, reception, but also about the level of knowledge in our country, about the quality of science, about the good companies that host them, and it seems to us that there really is a global knowledge network that is knitting itself together and taking us all into the future.” (Vesna Humar, Radio Slovenia, July 5, 2024)
We extend our gratitude to the Government Office for the welcome they have given to our fellows for many years in a row and their invaluable support in facilitating these exchanges, which contribute to academic and professional growth while strengthening ties with Slovenia.
Link to the news story on gov.si.
Photo: Government Office for Slovenians Abroad