Ivona is Croatian, and spent her childhood in Mostar in Herzegovina, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She attended the University of Mostar, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Departments, earning a degree in Croatian Language and Literature, and then a PhD on Languages and Cultures in Contact”, from the Department on Language and Literature.
Ivona began her teacher career in Gymnasium Mostar, and then ten years ago was a founding teacher at the United World College Mostar, a new UWC created to introduce an IB World School as part of the effort to restore peace following the conflicts suffered in the region. Ivona writes, ‘UWC Mostar was a great challenge for me: new school, new programme, and after all, a new view at the world. There are many people in Bosnia and Herzegovina who would like to see this school, the first in the country to educate students from all ethnic groups together.’ She is part of the faculty that works with students from different cultures and countries, religions and backgrounds, and she adds, ‘This experience changed me as a teacher’.
As and IB Teacher she has participated in many IB workshops for Language A and CAS, in Switzerland and Athens. She has also participated in other educational conferences with the UWC Colleges, the Ministry of Education and the Council of Europe.
Besides teaching Croatian A for the past 10 years at UWC Motar, she has also worked as CAS Coordinator, as an Assistant IBDP Coordinator and as Admissions Coordinator, and she has worked supporting other SSST Croatian A students around the world for the past six years. She has also supervised Extended Essays. She brings a wealth of experience and insights to her work supporting our SSST Croatian A students.
