Bence Barlay, the director of the Szent Imre Cistercian High School in Buda, and Bobay Beatrix, a lawyer, received this year's Gelsey awards. The awards were presented on Saturday, on the anniversary of the birth of the namesake Vilmos Gelsey, at the Dóm Visitor Center in Szeged.
János Csák, the minister responsible for culture and innovation, said at the ceremony that public education has been the key to Hungary's future for a thousand and one hundred years. The goal of the government and the nation is to support cultural excellence, unique, world-renowned achievements, and not to leave anyone behind. The politician explained that Vilmos Gelsey embodied the values in recognition of which the award bearing his name was founded. An immeasurable serenity emanated from him, but at the same time his individuality was devoid of vanity, envy, he spared no time and tiredness to pass on his knowledge and experience, and he was characterized by endless good manners and kindness. Vilmos Gelsey built, encouraged and comforted. The recognition established in 2014 by the Diocese of Szeged-Csanád and its Gelsey Vilmos Pedagogical Institute is a worthy part of preserving his memory, the minister emphasized.
The Vilmos Gelsey Award with the statue can be awarded to a person who has been serving the development of Hungarian society based on Christian values in an exemplary way for a long time, and the cause of Christian education by strengthening the economy and culture.
Bence Barlay obtained a degree in history and geography from the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), then a degree in German, and later completed the Pázmány Péter University's leadership training course. For 17 years, he worked as a teacher at the Don Bosco Primary School in Albertfalu, and since 2009 he has been teaching at the Szent Imre Gimnázium in Cistercian Buda, where he has been the director for the eleventh year. The past three decades have shown that for Bence Barlay, Christian education has always remained a vocation: as a specialist teacher, head of class, leader of a work community, director. What's more, since more emphasis was placed on leadership than teaching, he considers it one of his most important tasks that the teachers - those he works with, those he manages, and for whom he feels as much responsibility as for his students - remain in their profession. With a healthy spirit, creative self-awareness, enthusiasm, motivation, relying on each other even in difficulties and on their shared faith - said Erik Bogsch, president of Richter Gedeon Nyrt., praising the awardee.
The Gelsey Vilmos Award with a plaque is awarded to a person who, as a committed Christian, has achieved outstanding results in Hungarian national culture and education systems and their management.
This year's award was received by Beatrix Bobay, who graduated as a lawyer from ELTE in 1984. After obtaining the legal examination, he became a lawyer in Budapest, dealing with civil law and family law matters, specializing in privacy protection, privacy protection, and data protection. Since the mid-nineties, he has also represented educational institutions. Thus, it also manages the legal affairs of the educational institutions maintained by the Esztergom-Budapest Archdiocese, the Catholic School Authority of the Esztergom-Budapest Archdiocese, and the St. Gellért Catholic School Authority established by the Szeged-Csanád Diocese.
Source: MTI
Picture: Sándor Gémes
