During the Spring Agora Patra, six new members of the NetCom were elected, namely: Ana Potočnik (AEGEE-Ljubljana), Balázs Kovács (AEGEE-Debrecen), Burak Topaloğlu (AEGEE-Eskisehir), Lia Tuska (AEGEE-Sofia), Maria Arends (AEGEE-Groningen) and Natalia Ivleva (AEGEE-Voronezh). After the resignation of Holger Schmitt, newly elected member of Comité Directeur, Julia Fuss (AEGEE-Mannheim) got assigned the job of NetCom Assistant until the next Agora. The AEGEEan spoke to the new NetCom members to get to know them better!
Ana Potočnik (AEGEE-Ljubljana)
The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to be NetCom?
Ana: I don’t think that I had a special reason; it seemed very natural to apply. I had and still have a feeling that I have enough experiences on the local and European level, and I can use this knowledge to support my locals. Of course Balkan locals and its members have a lot to do with my decision to apply. Since I will be leaving the board of AEGEE-Ljubljana, I see this as a perfect opportunity to keep working with all the amazing people in our Network.
The AEGEEan: What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?
Ana: [she laughs] “Thank you Alberto [Cuesta Noriega, Vice-Chairperson of the Agora ed.] , you misspelled my name and forgot Lia Tuska (AEGEE-Sofia). At the moment I was more nervous about the Comité Directeur elections and I just wanted to see those results. The full realisation that I was elected came waaaay later, when the first NetCom emails started to come in my inbox.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the locals in your region?
Ana: Balkan locals are getting more and more connected and we all miss events where we could hang out and work on our ideas. That’s why I am stealing the idea from La Tripulación locals about Renove. For more of my plans you can read my Work Plan!
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the NetCom team?
Ana: At the moment I am working on our NetCom meeting, and the topics and trainings we will have there. I hope we will be able to come up with a list of certain topics we will all work on with our locals. I think if we all work together we can have a much bigger impact in the Network.
The AEGEEan: What are the nicknames for your region and team?
Ana: We are known as Balkan locals or Balkans, that’s why we (me and my Speaker team) like to call ourselves BalkanMafia.
Balázs Kovács (AEGEE-Debrecen)
The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to be NetCom?
Balázs: I have applied to become a Network Commissioner since I believed that with my experience and enthusiasm, I would be able to help contributing to the further empowerment of my future antennae – locally as well as internationally.
The AEGEEan: What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?
Balázs: I felt VERY delighted and we were all smiling and being overly happy with the closest peers sitting around me.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the locals in your region?
Balázs: I intend to help by continuing to develop the quality and quantity of the activities of the antennae as well as boosting their daring attitude towards cooperations with other NGOs – in and outside of the AEGEE Network. Another plan of mine includes the popularization of a mentoring system to strengthen ties between different generations within each and all antennae.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the NetCom team?
Balázs: Although we have yet to meet with the group for the final stage of planning our upcoming term together, as the NetCom Meeting in Budapest will take place in late June, I think our shared most important key aim for the Network Commission Team is to be able to work together smoothly and closely with everyone in the group while putting emphasis on encouraging all our antennae to collaborate with others belonging to different Network Commisioners.
Lia Tuska (AEGEE-Sofia)
The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to be NetCom?
Lia: I am one of the founder members of AEGEE-Kastoria. I used to be like their mother for almost two years. I just wanted to take care of more locals. I was thinking of applying at Zaragoza, but I didn’t, because I had my internship for six months and my thesis. Arsenis asked me to be in his team before Zaragoza and we did a great job with the locals I was responsible for and that helped me a lot now that I’m prepared for being a NetCommie. I applied at Agora Patra because I’m having a kind of gap year and I’m really motivated to devote this year on being a NetCommie.
The AEGEEan: What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?
Lia: It’s a funny story. My name wasn’t in the results slide. My friends around me were worried and people were clapping, but I was the only one cool around them because I thought Fotis Pastrakis (AEGEE-Kastoria, Chairteam IT Assistant) was trolling me.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the locals in your region?
Lia: Currently, I’m getting to know them. I got a team who helped me a lot so far. I’m going to have a NetCom trip after summer and we’re going to organize a Fall NWM. One of my goals is to implement the Mentorship System, so the contact antennae can be guided properly by experienced members. I’ll concentrate on these plans right now.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the NetCom team?
Lia: I’m responsible for the NetCom Telegram. It’s a way to show the rest of the Network what NetCommies do during their term. Some people don’t know who their NetCommie is or are afraid to approach him/her. I want them to realize that we are here to help them and not to inspect them. I want to continue being responsible for the Members’ Portal Section of the Network Commission. It’s a useful tool but it needs to be updated often and we can use it to show our work and upcoming activities (NWMs). That’s all my plans for now. After the NetCom meeting there might be more.
The AEGEEan: What are the nicknames for your region and team?
Lia: We had some thoughts about nicknames, but nothing decided yet.
Maria Arends (AEGEE-Groningen)
The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to be NetCom?
Maria: I have been an active member of AEGEE for three years now, both on local and on European level, and I just thought it was time to share what I have learnt and experienced, and make sure other people can enjoy our network and all it has to offer as well.
The AEGEEan: What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?
Maria: I was really happy.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the locals in your region?
Maria: I have some people in different cities interested in establishing new locals, so it is for sure one of my plans to work on that. Furthermore, I would like to strengthen the cooperation between locals and try to be there for the locals as much as possible. This is why I will have an individual Skype meeting with each local at least once per three months. Besides that, I will start a monthly newsletter with updates from the locals, upcoming events, and information about the European level bodies.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the NetCom team?
Maria: As we haven’t had our NetCom Meeting yet, I do not have very concrete plans on this, but of course I wish to continue the work that has been done last term on the Network Meeting reform. I will be proofreading the NetCom Telegrams (so if you see any mistakes, you know who to write), and of course I will do my best to cooperate as much as possible.
The AEGEEan: What are the nicknames for your region and team?
Maria: The region already has a nickname: The Nordic Stars, which is a good one, so I believe it should be kept that way. For now, we call ourselves the Nordic Stars NetCom team, but this may change. You never know what happens.
Natalia Ivleva (AEGEE-Voronezh)
The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to be NetCom?
Natalia:Last year I was Vira’s SubCommie and this experience helped me to understand that I didn’t have enough space to realize all of my ideas and projects. I feel that NetCom is the best position for it.
The AEGEEan: What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?
Natalia: First reaction? Of course it was ‘Thanks God! I did it!’ and then ‘Let’s start to work, I have something to do’.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the locals in your region?
Natalia: In general I’m planning to work on cooperation between antennae in my Focus Area to make small locals more active, more motivated and much more stronger, and to give big locals new great experience.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the NetCom team?
Natalia: I already feel that we have a great and motivated team that’s ready to rock. Hope that you’re also able to see it soon.
The AEGEEan: What are the nicknames for your region and team?
Natalia: When I discussed my candidature for this position with my ‘PR-Company’, Ksenia Lupanova (AEGEE-Moskva, PRC) & Anna ‘Smailikova’ Pykhtina (AEGEE-Kyiv, SUCT), we ‘created’ the nickname NATCom and now some people from my area proposed to call our NetWork ‘Eastern NATWork’ .
Julia Fuss (AEGEE-Mannheim)
The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to be NetCom?
Julia: Personally, what motivates me most in my AEGEE work is seeing active antennae engaged in many awesome projects. This in turn gives me lots of motivation and energy to help smaller antennae realize their ideas for new projects, as they too of course have tons of potential – often times more than they are currently aware of. Due to the fact that I now finished my term as president on the local level, and feel that my work in AEGEE is far from being over, I am looking for a new challenge which allows me to experience the European level. Thus, being NetCom Assistant allows me to connect both the local and European level in all tasks.
The AEGEEan: What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?
Julia: I was at home when I read the e-mail that I got selected as NetCom Assistant and besides feeling very happy, I soon made myself a Cordon Bleu because I was also feeling very hungry.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the locals in your region?
Julia: I would like to especially focus on highlighting existing support structures for locals, organizing many RTCs within this region, as well as setting up a PR data base. Another idea which circulates within our region is to create a manual for board positions to assist boards in their work or offer a basis for creating knowledge transfers in cases where they do not yet exist. As I have already been working together and assisting locals in their work since November, I believe that I can build upon this experience to help strengthen, stabilize and expand German-speaking locals together with the other subcommissioners.
The AEGEEan: What are your plans for the NetCom team?
Julia: Right now I am looking forward to getting to know the other NetCommies, the work of the Network Commission as a whole, and to support the NetCom team wherever I can.
The AEGEEan: What are the nicknames for your region and team?
Julia: For a while now, we have been calling the German-speaking region „Krauts Crowd“. There even exists a Facebook page „AEGEE Krauts Crowd“ to update everyone on what is happening in this part of Europe. You can check it out here.
Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen