HAESF Fellow Szilvi Koleszar founds Skool for young women in technology

December Alumni of the Month: Szilvi Koleszar

As a senior fellow with the Hungarian-American Enterprise Scholarship Fund (HAESF), Szilvi Koleszar focused on human resources practices in U.S. tech companies. HAESF - endowed by U.S. Treasury Funds - has been supporting talented Hungarians to gain professional experience in the United States over a decade. By investing in human capital, HAESF's mission includes contributing to Hungarian development and strengthening ties between Hungary and the United States.

Szilvi's CIEE experience on the HAESF fellowship inspired her to create Skool, an independent nonprofit focused on empowering young women to pursue careers in technology and engineering.

Through her training experience with U.S.-based IT companies during her 5-month HAESF fellowship in New York, Szilvi realized the importance of encouraging younger generations to enter the technology field, particularly young women. When she returned to Hungary, she set up the first summer program focusing on STEM education for young Hungarian women; by June, she had set up a foundation, which became Skool. Soon after their initial workshops, Skool gained the support of powerful companies in the tech field, including Morgan Stanley, Facebook, Google, Ericsson, and Yahoo!. 

 “We want to inspire and motivate them to be brave and try those fields that others might say ‘it’s not for girls.’ "

Photo: Szilvi (right) and Anett (left) with a group of girls in a Skool program at the regional tournament of the First Lego League in November 2014; a group of Skool participants at Google. 

Szilvi credits the success of Skool to her team members, including fellow HAESF and CIEE alum Anett Sóti, who returned to Budapest in July and now works part-time with Skool. Szilvi was inspired by the passion and openness of her American co-workers during her HAESF fellowship, and says that without that experience, launching Skool would not have been possible. “At Skool we feel it’s very important to explore the tools outside of classrooms to teach and inspire youth about technology,” says Szilvi. “It was about how to encourage young women to enter into technology fields, to inspire, empower and get them to learn, explore and pursue career possibilities in technology.”