Flower design to create fund for scholarship

Twelve women who are known for their business success and philanthropy came together with Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) to launch the "Çiçeklenen Burslar" (Flowering Scholarships) campaign. The campaign was co-organized with the İTÜ Office of the Chancellor and the Başarım Sensin Foundation, and hosted flower arrangement workshops featuring successful women with business, fashion industry and media backgrounds. The revenue from the sales of the arrangements will be given to İTÜ female students as scholarships.

The International Women's Day Flowering Scholarship event took place at İTÜ's Ayazağa campus yesterday, hosted by Süleyman Demirel, emphasized that improving oneself by taking up a new hobby can be used as a tool for social responsibility projects. Under the guidance of Assistant Professor Telem Gök of the İTÜ Faculty of Design, 12 notable women attended the workshops, and the flower arrangements they made were put up for sale following the event by Uğur Batur. The income from the event, which hosted many guests from the business world as well as glitterati, will be used as scholarships for İTÜ's female students.

The guests of honor at the event included Başarım Sensin Foundation board member and the Owner of A&D Art, Design and Furniture, Ahu Orakçıoglu, fashion designer Arzu Kaprol, journalist Balçiçek İlter, fashion designer Gizem Turan, designer Gönül Paksoy, actress Hande Subaşı, vocal artist Melihat Gülses, Capital Magazine's editor-in-chief Sedef Seçkin Büyük, Turkish Leather Foundation (TÜRDEV) board member and vice chairwoman of Gündüz Group, Ruken Mızraklı, chairwoman of the board of Kütahya Porselen, Sema Güral Sürmeli, board chairwoman of METAG Construction and İTÜ Alumni Association member Sibel İdil Kerimoğlu and the owner of Cherie Flowers and Events, Aslı Kuseyrioğlu.

İTÜ Chancellor Mehmet Karaca underscored that İTÜ is a university with a critical awareness for social problems. "We deeply care about undertaking social responsibility projects. We believe that everybody should have something to focus on outside of their professional life. Through this event, we wanted to show people the importance of having a hobby," he said. Additionally, Başarım Sensin Foundation President Şule Argüder said that they were excited to co-organize the special and meaningful event with İTÜ, and they approach the education of girls with sensitivity as a foundation. Moreover, Argüder emphasized the importance of productive, hard-working and active women for the country.