Lucia Gavulová is a candidate for one of the positions of Member of the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT), the preferred tasks being Project Manager and Treasurer. She is 26 years old and has joined the organisation little over four years ago. She has been the President of AEGEE-Bratislava for two years, but nowadays she is Project Manager in the SUCT and is willing to stay in office for a second term, but with much more experience. Check out her interview!
The AEGEEan: Do you think becoming a member of the SUCT again can get you more experience in AEGEE?
Lucia: Every single day as a person and as an AEGEE member gives me the experiences and skills I need to develop myself. I try not to go to sleep before I learn something small which will enrich my life. Being a SUCT member gave me a lot. I am sure that extending this term for one more year will not only be beneficial for me, but mainly for the team and the project, since we can skip the learning period and just continue working.
Can you tell us something more about your SUCT trip?
In July, I visited six SUs in total and I co-organised the one in Berlin, since I unexpectedly moved there. I had an amazing time with organisers and participants in Warszawa, Magusa, Beograd, Novi Sad, Ljubljana and Udine, and I have to say that I felt really welcomed and involved everywhere. I helped them with the integration of participants, provided a few tips and suggestions, participated in workshops and asked different questions to improve the project and to understand which challenges each organising team faces. Thanks to all the involved people who made this happen!
What are the tasks of the SUCT Project Manager?
The main one is obvious: coordinate the project and other three members to ensure the smooth development of the project. Furthermore, the Project Manager has to create and fulfil all deadlines, lead meetings, communicate with the Comité Directeur and all European bodies, represent the project and solve all problems. The Project Manager should be informed about everything that is happening (but ideally, all members are) and be able to help all members if they cannot fulfil their tasks.
How are you going to work on improving content of SUs? How will you select the trainers for SUs?
It is very important here to involve WGs, ACT and other European Bodies so we can all work on this together. We already started promoting contentful SUs this year, gave several workshops and hangouts on this topic, focused SUPS on this and reimbursed all trainers who asked us for support. For next year, since there is no aim in Action Agenda involving SUs, my plan would be to create special bonus points for really contentful SUs that prove us their high quality content. Therefore, I would also like to organise a number of supporting activities to show how content can be fun and enjoyable. Trainers are selected based on their experiences and our budget. This year we reimbursed everyone who sent us a reimbursement form.
Can you tell us something about the 30th anniversary of the SU Project in advance? How
will you celebrate it?
The SU project will celebrate its 30th birthday in 2018 and therefore, we have already started to think about organising something epic. Since it will be in 2018, we will not be able to have much influence since a different SUCT will be in charge in that year, but at least we started to put some money from the budget apart. I cannot say anything particular yet as nothing has been set yet, and we are just collecting ideas. But it will definitely include sun, summer, positive energy and it will be the #YearOfMyLife!
How do you want to increase visibility of the project?
We all observed how influencial social media are and therefore I wouldn’t mind investing some finances into campaigns. It is also important to involve universities and their Erasmus offices as this is usually the group that attracts most of our potential members. I also believe that with our new official SU video – wait to see it during the Agora – this will be easier [she smiles, ed.].
In your application you mentioned Charlemagne Youth Prize. What is it and what are your plans regarding this Prize?
The European Charlemagne Youth Prize aims to encourage the development of European consciousness among young people, as well as their participation in European integration projects. The Prize is awarded to projects undertaken by young people which foster understanding, promote the development of a shared sense of European identity, and offer practical examples of Europeans living together as one community.
The European Charlemagne Youth Prize is awarded jointly and annually by the European Parliament and the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen. Last year we applied with SUs as we believe it majorly fulfilled all criteria, and this year I want to do it again. Once, we will have to win!
Does the SU Project enjoy help of partnerships at the moment?
This year, we enjoyed three Interrail passes which we used for SUCT trips and we are working on more!
How can SUs contribute to AEGEE’s Impact Measurement?
Every year, the SU Project involves about 4000 members and they all get special questionnaire to fill in, which contributes to the overall impact measurement of AEGEE on its members.
Do you think AEGEE became famous for the Summer Universities?
For sure it contributed, but I don’t think it is the only reason for the success of an organisation as big as AEGEE.
According to you, why were there less applications for the SUs this year, than last year?
This year, we had only about 100 applications less, so it is not so tragic. We still have way more applicants than available places and that is important. As I already mentioned several times, this trend can be caused by availability of cheap travelling and services like Skyscanner, Couchsurfing, free city tours and such, which lower the need for travellers to include third parties in their summer travel plans.
Therefore, we have to raise the content again so we distinguish ourselves from travel agencies and offer some added value to travels.
You can read her full candidature here.
Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari