Yevgeniya Gagarkina is a 20 years old girl from AEGEE-Kyïv running for the position of PR responsible in the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT), who is “ready to work both on external and internal PR, and to help all the SUCT with challenging job that we will set up for ourselves.”
The AEGEEan: Hey there, Yevgeniya! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yevgeniya: So I am a young, optimistic and determined girl, who enjoys life and what she is doing. I like playing beach volleyball, sending postcards, watching movies and communicating with different people. Marketing and Bbusiness Management is my major in one of the best Ukrainian universities, my home country is Ukraine, and I am proud of it! Also I am waiting for the bravest AEGEEans, who will discover our capital during #AutumnAgoraKyiv2015 soon [she smiles, ed.].
You are a last-minute candidate for the SU Coordination Team! What made you decide to run for it?
Well, I’ve been thinking of candidating for this position for quite a long time, but I was not 100% sure since I had another opportunity which would take a lot of my time. I was sure that I couldn’t combine both of them, so once things became as they are now, I decided that it is destiny and the right decision and I shouldn’t wait any longer.
You’ve mentioned in your application that “I know how to make every summer unforgettable”. Which are your tricks?
The point is that summer is the only time when I feel completely free to be myself, even if I have some work. I am a thrill-seeker, so every summer is very different through the places I visit, the things I do, people I spend my time with, the emotions I get. One thing I know for sure: summer cannot be that bright without Summer University!
What is your AEGEE experience on the field on Summer University Coordination?
In 2014 I became a helper on AEGEE-Kyïv’s TSU “RadioACTIVE”, right after participating in the amazing AEGEE-Ljubljana and AEGEE-Udine TSU ‘Cultures beyond the border’. After being a participant I knew how I would like to organise this kind of event, which definitely had an influenced on me during “RadioACTIVE”. This year I went further and was one of the organisers of TSU “Across the UAniverse” from the very beginning.
What do you consider to be your pros and cons in the professional field?
My main benefit is that I do this, because I am really interested in PR and marketing in general. I have not only fundamental theoretical knowledge, but also practical skills and different related experience – and I keep on enlarging it. The main con might be the fact that sometimes I have too many ideas and I want to make all them come true, which means that I take too much responsibility.
Which was the best Summer University you organised and why? Tell us a great memory you have from it.
Well, honestly, I’ve been an organiser of only one SU – TSU of all Ukrainian antennas “Across the UAniverse”. Anyway it is worth to name it “the best one”! [she smiles, ed] I enjoyed the mood of the participants, they were really curious not only about what is going on in this country, but also about our culture, traditions and habits. One of the greatest memories is kayaking on the Dniester river – it was so hard, but so much fun! And then we stayed all night on the river bank, enjoying the great atmosphere, listening to traditional songs – unexpected performance from local citizen, eating food cooked by us and of course feeling the AEGEE-spirit.
What is going be the most important part of the application form for next year? 
How do you propose to fix it?
In my opinion the Summer University is not the same as the Erasmus+ program, so questions and information asked there are relevant, and not worthless. The exact questions that you ask can’t be solved only by me, and surely have to be discussed with the whole coordination team, but I don’t think that application form won’t be essential this year. Also I’d love to conduct some surveys among SUs organisers, and maybe among the participants so that we can get the feedback and know better, what exactly was worthless, what needs to be added, opinions on privacy issue and how to improve the form.
Written by Gabriela Cioata, AEGEE-Bucuresti