Tis that time of the year: students raise funds to help those in need!

December 17, 2018

Another year, another Charity Auction on both of our campuses. It has been over 15 years that RIT Croatia (ACMT at that time) started this tradition. This activity is fully planned and executed by our students. They choose who they will be raising the funds for, engage in getting various donations from our faculty, staff, but companies as well, that they will later on sell at the auction to raise the funds. They also engage in event planning and management.

'The best thing about the Charity Auction is the unity within our SG teams', says Niko, RIT Croatia Dubrovnik campus student and the Student Government President: 'Working hard and in a team is a huge booster for friendship and professional relationship. Where you can see when one person can't do a specific task, another one is stepping in and helping to overcome an obstacle.'

This year, the amount raised exceeded 30,000 HRK (around 4,600 USD) and was donated to the Dubrovnik NGO Slatki život which helps young people with diabetes, Dubrovnik citizen suffering from cerebral palsy, and the NGO Mali Zmaj from Zagreb which works to improve the quality of life of poor children and children without proper parental care.

'The best thing about these events is that they connect us as a community and allow us to make a difference in someone's life. We are happy to have the chance to make someone's Christmas a little bit better, and this is why we will try to make more of these kinds of events.', says Donika, Zagreb campus student and a SG representative.

The Charity Auction is one of the most important events at RIT Croatia; and our community likes it the most! Apart from all the experiential learning opportunities for our students, they promote volunteering and helping others by being the example to all of us. Once the auctions end, our students donate the funds. They are the ones that get to see the ones who will benefit from the donations. And that is something that stays with them forever.

Niko agrees: 'Seeing happy faces after each item was sold is great. How unselfishness and kindness are coming together and connecting students, professors and faculty into one unity. Again, a big advantage for all of our members is this learning curve where you are investing your free time to create event which outcome will change someone's feelings, emotions and help them in their future developments.'

Although it is for a good cause, the 'learning by doing' means that our students face challenges and need to overcome them. 'For me, the most challenging activity was the event itself, because of the logistics behind it.', says Donika: 'Getting donations and the space was challenging but also rewarding once you see it all comes together.' Niko agrees: 'The most challenging part is collecting items. Also, working under pressure and racing with time was really frustrating and challenging but the reward that came out of it was worth it: our teams overcome those obstacles and became more efficient!'

Students from both campuses that actively participated in organizing these events, were really happy to see so many faculty members, staff members and students showing up, bidding for the items and contribute to the overall purpose and success behind the Charity Auctions. The items ranged from cosmetics, books, even pillows (!) to top notch technological gadgets like a smart umbrella! But, the most valued ones were the creative ones - like free tutoring by our faculty, coffee with the Dean and even playing the popular escape games with our faculty!

Thank you everyone for another amazing experience, see you next year :)