At the school, a special exhibition of student projects was arranged – models and conceptual designs presenting different perspectives on environmental problems and possible solutions. The creativity and commitment of the students clearly showed their attitude toward the future of the planet. Meetings with people who come into our lives to motivate us and show us new horizons. To show us what the true values in life are. They help us grow and discover the right direction. They teach us how to reveal our full potential. They give us the confidence to continue boldly forward and show us that dreams can be achieved.
Such a meeting was the one with Zdravka Evtimova on 21 April 2026 with the students of the National Commercial High School – Plovdiv. She is an author of short stories published in 32 countries around the world, recipient of national and international awards, and a representative of the newest Bulgarian literature. She is the author of the short story “Blood from a Mole,” which is included in 12th-grade literature textbooks, in upper-secondary textbooks in Denmark, and in literature courses in the United States. And at the same time, she is such a modest and natural person. Someone you feel you have known for a long time. Someone who gladly shares her knowledge and experience with young people – a lecturer at Sofia University and a guest lecturer at universities and schools around the world.
The meeting began with a brief introduction of the author by Zornitsa Hristozova – a representative of publishing house “Zhanet-45”, who spoke about her with great affection. Zdravka Evtimova spoke about her school years, her experience abroad, and education in Chinese schools and universities. She spoke about teaching at American universities. About the great impression Professor Elizabeth Frank made on her, about Hemingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea” and how students in America perceive it. About the idea of the novel that a person cannot be trampled on and humiliated. A person may be physically destroyed, but cannot be spiritually destroyed. About how important reading is. About the fact that knowledge is the only thing that cannot be taken away from us. About what gives meaning to life: doing good and helping people. About her experience as a teacher at the English-language high school. About the novel “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” by Alan Sillitoe. About Albert Camus and Jack London, who immortalized an era. “Make your teachers proud of you. Let them love you,” she urged the students. She urged them to value their teachers and respect their parents. She spoke about the “Golden Feather” competition at Ivan Vazov School in Paris. About the need to write. About her first novel. About her childhood in the Roma neighborhood and how she loved inventing stories and telling them. About her meeting with Stanka Pencheva, who predicted that she would write books. About the fact that writing is solitude. About writing as therapy and relief. About the lack of censorship and the failure to observe copyright law. And how is it possible “for a father to be so bad that he did not even have a child”?
At the end of the meeting, Zornitsa Hristozova shared that, despite everything, no matter how sad the story is, there is always a ray of hope and light in Zdravka Evtimova’s books. I asked the writer to leave a message in the library’s autograph book, and she wrote: “To the students and teachers of the National Commercial High School, Plovdiv – win with knowledge, charm, and honor!”.
