ABLE Mentor Blagoevgrad Season 5 Kicks Off
Dara, who recorded her first song; Aneta, who helped people tackle stress at work; Denis, who organized literary readings for children in social homes; Gabriela, who created а fashion brand. These are just a few of the projects that came to life over the six-year-long history of ABLE Mentor Bulgaria.
You can also become a part of ABLE Mentor’s inspiring story as the project is back in Blagoevgrad for Season 5. If you are a high school student in the tenth or eleventh grade or a professional who wants to share their skills and knowledge, you can join the program at https://www.ablementor.bg/j oin/ by Oct. 13.
Over several months, students and mentors work together on projects in one of three categories – business, social service, or personal development. The high school students get the chance to receive personal advice, improve their skills and work on their dream projects. The mentors, on the other hand, get the opportunity to share their expertise, polish their leadership skills and meet like-minded people.
“ABLE Mentors can make a difference,” said Sabina Wien, AUBG Professor and mentor during Season 4. “You can make a high school student change the way in which they perceive themselves. You can help youngsters make our social environment a bit more pleasant and fair.”
AUBG second-year student Emanuela Kerencheva, who was a mentoree in 2016, worked on a photography project together with Blagoevgrad photographer Atanas Kitanov.
“I actually learned a lot of things about photography and the mentor really helped me,” she said. “ABLE Mentor is important because there are so many children and high school students who want to express themselves but don’t have the place to go. I would encourage them to be active and go out there. It is something new, you go out of your comfort zone and you should aim to do that even at a younger age.”
Mariela Latinova, also a second-year student at AUBG, has been part of ABLE Mentor twice as a mentoree. During both seasons, she worked on a project that helps young people on their path to personal development. “It was an exciting experience, it was an opportunity for me to meet new people and to create and develop my idea,” Latinova said. Inspired by her own experience as a mentoree, she became a mentor when she was a first-year university student.
Nikolay Nikolov, Project Leader of ABLE Mentor, said that six years after ABLE Mentor was created, more than 1,000 students and mentors have participated in the program, and more than 80 volunteers have worked for the organization in different cities. “There have been many successful projects in the field of entrepreneurship, social service and personal development,” he said.