Zenica's First Gymnasium Celebrates 70th Birthday, Former Students Now Teachers

More than 7,000 graduates have passed through the oldest and most prestigious school in Zenica, the First Gymnasium, which is celebrating its 70th birthday. A ceremonial event was held at BNP Zenica, gathering students, teachers, parents, associates, and friends of the school, and the students of this school and the Youth Choir prepared a cultural and artistic program, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

School Day has been celebrated since November 7, 1945, when, by a decree of the then Ministry of Education, the then State Mixed Civic School in Zenica was transformed into the State Real Gymnasium. Since 1945, the Gymnasium has changed its name six times. The school was first called the State Real Gymnasium, then the Higher Real Gymnasium, then simply the Real Gymnasium, then from 1981 to 1993 the Gymnasium "29. novembar", from then on the General Gymnasium, then the General Gymnasium, and now, by a decision of the Government of the Zenica-Doboj Canton from April 9, 2008, it changed its name to the First Gymnasium in Zenica.

Azra Kundalić graduated from the First Gymnasium in 2003, and today her workplace is also here, as a professor of mathematics and physics.

- We didn't have the internet, but we spent more time in libraries and read more, and that is missing now. Teachers were strict and we had to study a lot. Today, teachers are more open to students, they are approachable, and there is more conversation - Kundalić told Patria.

The first year started with a delay, and 413 students were enrolled in the first grade, five classes, distributed into 9 sections, which is about 45 students per section. At that time, there were only 10 teachers. In the 1948/49 school year, the first generation of graduates passed the higher course exam, with the lowest graduation grade being "good", and the first director of the gymnasium was engineer Jaroslav Škritek. Classes in the new building began in the second semester of the 1966/1967 school year.

First generation of graduates

Incidentally, high school days, especially gymnasium days, remain a fond memory for students.

- I finished the Gymnasium two years ago, today I am at university, but I always fondly remember those days. In gymnasium, I also fell in love for the first time, and I often remember the days when I waited for my girlfriend in front of the First - Faris Kazić told Patria.

Students of the First Gymnasium in Zenica have achieved and continue to achieve results in learning, various competitions, and extracurricular activities. Five professors of this school, up to 1980 alone, received the Twelfth of April Award of the City of Zenica, which was a highly valued recognition from society.

Some of the famous personalities who graduated from Zenica's First Gymnasium are actors: Tarik Filipović, Haris Burina, and Danijel Ljuboja, our national team representatives Adnan Haramandić and Adnan Zahirović, scientists Amer Smailbegović, Denis Parganlija, and Harun Šestić, and the former bass guitarist of the band "Crvena jabuka", Aljoša Buha.