Tereza Heková is a Romani college student who graduated from secondary professional school in the Czech town of Most with a focus on Public Administration. Today she is focused on that same field at college and is in her third year of studying at the private CEVRO Institute.
Once she graduates she would like to work in that field professionally. “I don’t have a motto that I follow – I treat just others the way they treat me,” she told the monthly Romano voďi recently.
Before she left her home town of Chomutov to study in Prague, her mother was afraid of what life would be like for her in the big city, but ultimately supported her move along with other members of her family. “I understand study to be a path to my future professional life and development. I most enjoy meeting with the leading figures and professionals who collaborate with our school. I have acquired many interesting contacts in the public administration, the academic world, politics and the security services,” she told Romano voďi.
Her knowledge from school is already something she is putting into practice in her work at a bank where she meets clients, addresses their needs and actively seeks new accounts. She enjoys getting to know interesting personalities and the mutual inspiration that such meetings generate.
It’s clear to her what is important about employment: Primarily self-realization and satisfaction from work that is useful. “I would most like to work in the public administration, but I’m afraid that the salary I would make there would probably not be enough over time for me to start my own family, given today’s prices of real estate and the cost of mortgages, and that I might have to get a job that would feed my family but would be neither amusing nor fulfilling,” the student told us.
Of course, if she could do absolutely any job she wanted, then her ideal workplace would be a dog shelter or animal rescue station, and she would also like to participate in stopping animal testing and in raising awareness about how animals are raised for slaughter and for the clothing industry. In her free time she dedicates herself to modern gymnastics.
Heková once competed in the field and has the Excellent Trainer Cup for 2002 at home as well as a bronze medal from the World Championships in the sport of majorette dance (baton twirling). What is her biggest experience so far?
One of the experiences that made a big impact on her recently was a visit to a morning show at Czech Television’s Studio 6, where she spoke as a scholarship recipient of the Roma Education Fund. “I had enormous stage fright and I was afraid I would say something inappropriate or that I would offend somebody. Fortunately it turned out well,” she recalled.
First published in the monthly Romano voďi (July/August 2016). You can order the Czech edition by completing the online form at www.romanovodi.cz.
