Georgi Chakarov is the kind of person that liberal education strives to create: a rounded individual with multiple interests and skills. Georgi is a gifted student, an accomplished athlete, and a popular go-getter who never misses an opportunity for action.
Despite being accepted on a full sports scholarship at a university in the United States four years ago, Georgi Chakarov chose AUBG. Its location and rigorous academics won him over, he says.
“I really appreciate the intensity of the education here. You develop a bundle of qualities” that will serve you in life, Georgi explains. “You learn to improvise, a crucial skill sometimes. The university helped me to become more sensitive to detail. People around me here are creative and original. That is a good study environment.” Also, the constant pressure of deadlines teaches AUBGers “to handle extreme situations that rarely offer enough time for reaction.”
A native Bulgarian, he says he believes “that young people should not run away and lose connection with their home country.”
In his fourth and last year at AUBG, Georgi is majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting and a minor in European Studies.
Despite his ambitious academic pursuits, Georgi has left a trace in many aspects of the University’s public life, the most important being basketball. “I started playing basketball when I was twelve. I have played in Sofia and in Blagoevgrad as well. I have been part of the AUBG basketball team since its creation. Last year we came up with the idea of organizing a basketball tournament in Blagoevgrad. We decided upon the format, found referees, physicians, and even cheerleaders for the event. The tournament took place in the months of January through March, involved five teams and turned out to be a success,” Georgi says.
Furthermore, during his four years at AUBG he has never missed a chance to include his name in the list of winners at the annual AUBG Olympic Games. He has several medals in team sports like basketball, as well as prizes in individual disciplines, such as the relay race and sprinting.
Georgi is graduating this fall semester. Always the man of action, he says what he will the most is AUBG adrenaline-rich side: “the team, the fun and the parties, even the weeks of the final exams when the residence halls are filled with a strong smell of coffee and energy drinks.”