Prepared by Nikola Kojic and Jasmina Vujic

This was the fourth Youth Panel organized and coordinated by Jasmina Vujic with the goal to bring young people to the SUC Conventions, to help them define their role in connecting and bringing together the Serbian community in the USA, and the Serbian youth from Matica and Diaspora, to discussed the challenges of the Serbian-American identity and how to overcoming massive negative public image and stereotypes, as well as to help young Serbian talents.

Each youth panel generated a lot of interest and was always well attended. Unfortunately, this year the Youth Panel was at the same time with the SUC Assembly (Saturday, 3:30-5:00 pm at Grand Park Room), which did not allows most of the SUC members to attend this panel. However, a lot of people did attend the Youth Panel and very extremely pleased by the presentations.

Photo: Jasmina Vujic gives introductory remarks at the opening of the Youth Panel in Chicago.

North American Serbian Student Organization
Nikola Kojić, PhD Student at MIT, President of MOST

As the president of the MIT Organization of Serbian Students (MOST) Nikola presented MOST in terms of cultural, religious and political events that were organized in the past. These events included a charity concert by Stefan Milenkovic as well as hosting of folklore dance concerts. He emphasized the need to connect with other Serbian student organizations throughout the United States and Canada. A seminal event for uniting the numerous organizations and establishing a long-lasting network would be a student conference, where a North American Serbian Student Organization would be formed. The conference organizers would subsidize registration and hotel/housing accommodations for students who are members of an active Serbian student organization. Thus, funds would be needed for such a conference. One possibility is to organize the Student Conference as part of the Serbian Unity Congress Convention. Some of the overall goals of the North American Serbian Student Organization would be to:

• Interconnect Serbian Student Population
• Exchange of ideas for Student Organizations
• Coordinated efforts for certain causes
• Exchanges with Serbian Universities
• Creating/Hosting cultural events
• Promoting Student Talent
• Future Business Opportunities
• Promote opportunities in Serbia
• Humanitarian Action

Student Exchange Program
Ivana Djuretić, PhD Student at Harvard

Ivana discussed how in addition to its regular staff made up of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, labs at Harvard often host students from many universities around the world, who come to work on specific projects for a few months and are supervised by senior lab members. The amount of knowledge and research experience that such students gain by working in Harvard labs for a relatively short amount of time is invaluable, and not only advances them in their professional carriers, but is inevitably gratifying to both the university and the country where the student comes from. Considering how instrumental students are for the development of successful academic research environments, it is absolutely necessary that we take advantage of the flourishing scientific milieu at Harvard for educating and training our own students.

Ivana is creating a list of Harvard faculty that would participate in hosting Serbian students, primarily by providing them with a temporary project, unlimited access to experimental resources, and a lab member who would train and supervise them throughout their stay. Second, necessary efforts are being made to introduce this program to the University of Belgrade and the relevant institutions that would help in selecting the appropriate students. These will have to fulfill certain requirements such as academic excellence, English language proficiency, ability to read and analyze scientific literature, and most importantly, possession of a sincere desire to carry out experimental research. Third, the number of students that enter the program every year would initially be small, approximately 3-5, with the possibility of increasing it depending on how the collaboration is received on both sides. The length of the program would be approximately six months, which represents the minimal amount of time required to get a specific set of skills or to complete an assigned project.

Academic Students and Lecturers Exchange Program
Milenko D. Djuric, Head of International Exchange Projects, University BK, Belgrade, Serbia

New opportunities regarding international exchange programs in the field of education – a new initiative from the University BK in Belgrade, Serbia: Academic Students and Lecturers Exchange Program - ASLEP 2007. The goal of this program is to help with the exchange of students and faculty between Serbia and the USA. Several agreements were already signed with the US universities.

The Role of Students in Connecting the Serbian Community
Andreja Jović, PhD Student at University of Michigan, President of MASS

Fifty years of Communist rule and the promotion of Yugoslavism almost obliterated the Serbian culture. So when a fellow Serbian student suggested that we form a Yugoslav Student Association, I went ballistic, to put it mildly. The situation was resolved when I told her that she could form her Yugoslav Student Association, and we would continue with our original plans to revive the Serbian Student Association at the University of Michigan. Formed in the Spring of 2004 by Goran Petrovic, the Michigan Association of Serbian Students (MASS) was initially intended to be just a socially-oriented student organization. By the Fall of 2004, the consensus among the board members was that the goals of MASS needed to be altered from that of congregating just to hang-out to something more ambitious. Currently, the goals of MASS are to preserve, promote, and create awareness for Serbian Culture and Serbian issues. This is achieved by holding various social, cultural, humanitarian, and media-related activities, in addition to interconnecting the members of MASS with the Michigan Serbian community. Ultimately, our desire is to share our rich and venerable culture with our American colleagues and demonstrate that we are not the war-mongering, baby-devouring monsters that we have been falsely portrayed as. Concurrently, our desire is to show the younger generation of Serbian students in Michigan, that being Serbian entails more than just eating cevapcici, showing the three-finger symbol, and chanting “Darko, Darko” at Pistons games.

DobroFilms and its Projects
Nada Miljkovic, DobroFilms, Santa Cruz, California

Nada Miljkovic made a presentation about her company DobroFilms. It's mission is to tell the stories that inspire understanding and tolerance across socially diverse cultures.

She discussed the challenges of the Serbian-American Identity and overcoming massive negative public image and stereotype. She believes that we need stories that help us feel better about our Serbian identity by exploding the stereotype through the power of media.

For 2006, DobroFilms is marketing and distributing Two Villages One Heart. This is a story of the inhabitants of the villages of Djunis, Serbia and Ben Lomond, California coming together in this wonderful feature that explores the human experience and transcends cultural stereotypes. It premiered in Ben Lomond, July 2006 to an all American audience with great acclaim.

Looking forward for 2007 is Danijela’s Orkestar. This is a future Feature Documentary about a young girl’s struggle to become a trumpet player. This story celebrates a Serbian family of talented young musicians as they struggle to prepare for Guca. People who have never heard Trubaci and are going to love it! These children are phenomenal. Plus, they want to tour the US with guest musician Maksa Maksutovic Maksut, musical creator for the movie Zona Zamfirova

To help tell these stories, DobroFilms is looking for support through: angel investing, donations, buying the DVDs, sponsoring a movie event or party in your community.

“Multimedia Presentations – Life and Work of Nikola Tesla, Banje Srbije”,
Tihana Vidakovic, Televizijski studio, Beckerek

Tihana Vidakovic gave excellent multimedia presentation of several projects of this young company – including “Life and Work of Nikola Tesla”, and “Banje Srbije”.