I became a “Raven” student in 1998 and continued my training there until the end of my high-school education in 2005. Initially, my intention was only to study English. But during the time spent at ‘Raven,” I became immersed in a friendly environment of ambitious and smart young people who inspired me to look for knowledge beyond English. As I became determined to acquire a Western-style education, I met the challenges of standardized tests, like the TOEFL and the SAT, which asked not simply for English-language skills, but for personal discipline and dedication. Through its first-rate training, Raven taught me how to build such qualities and use them to my advantage. As a result, I was admitted to one of the top educational institutions in the country – the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG). The financial aid that I received from AUBG for my high scores on the TOEFL and the SAT supported me in completing three exciting years in Blagoevgrad and one amazing year in the United States as an exchange-student fellow of the Open Society Institute.

The commitment to self-improvement that “Raven” instilled in me influenced me even after AUBG, when again I had to face standardized testing. After accomplishing nearly maximum scores on the GRE and the Internet-based TOEFL, I was admitted to graduate programs in the United States and Europe. My credentials helped me acquire full financial aid and a graduate-school research assistantship, which inspired my work as an intern for one of the major U.S. foreign-policy think-tanks – the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.

I relate “Raven” to opportunity. The club gave me the chance to acquire skills that I could not learn at school or at home. It exposed me to successful role models and useful academic habits. More importantly, it helped me develop qualities which support me in my academic and professional development until today.