The closing of Agora Asturias 2015 brought the newly elected Comite Directeur with it, composed of seven people who will begin their mandate on the 1st of July: President Aleksandra Kluczka (AEGEE-Kraków), Secretary General Svenja van der Tol (AEGEE-Nijmegen), Financial Director Ander Guerrero Ruiz (AEGEE-Zaragoza), and as Member of Comité Directeur: Anna Gumbau (AEGEE-Barcelona), Pablo Hernández Rodríguez (AEGEE-Thessaloniki/Alicante) and Réka Salamon (AEGEE-Aachen). In this article you will find out a few personal details about them and also about their program plan for AEGEE.
President: Aleksandra Kluczka (AEGEE Krakow), 24 years old, describes herself as “an experienced passionate of youth work and AEGEE in particular, willing to unleash AEGEE’s potential together with the team and the Network”
She has been a member of AEGEE since 2009, the organization that empowered her through every passing experience. Her ascent in AEGEE went on as she joined nine Agorae and three EBMs/EPMs, advanced from being a CD assistant to being the current Vice-President & External Relations Director of AEGEE Europe. She was also the Vice – President and Fundraising Board Member of AEGEE-Krakow.
Aleksandra expresses her plans in the Candidates Booklet: “I decided to run for the position of President of AEGEE-Europe and devote one more year of my life to AEGEE, in order to ensure the development and continuity for the organisation. I have a vision for the organisation that I would like to offer to the members and develop it together with the elected team. I observed that one year of CD term is relatively short, as you do not always see the results of the processes that you start. I am running for this position, as I want to have a feeling of a fulfilled mission and that I did everything I possibly could to improve AEGEE, before I leave it.”
Secretary General: Svenja van der Tol (AEGEE-Nijmegen), 22 years old, who describes herself as „a happy, optimistic, honest fluff puff” girl full of energy who loves rainbow unicorns, talking, eating, laughing and travels.
She has been a member of AEGEE since 2012, the organization which has changed her life a lot in many positive ways.
The most relevant experience which recommended her for Secretary General was the practice she gained as Secretary of AEGEE-Nijmegen (2012-2013), member of the Advisory Board (2013-2015), being a Chair of the Internal Formal Committee and being in the Chairteam of AEGEE Europe. Currently, Svenja is the Secretary of the Agora/EPM, a member of the Advisory Board and also a journalist and Proofreader at The AEGEEan. One of the most important aspects on which Svenja wants to focus during her term is the communication, not only among the CD, but also in the Network.
Financial Director: Ander Guerrero Ruiz (AEGEE-Zaragoza), 24 years old, who describes himself as “a positive, idealistic, down-to-earth, smiling guy from Zaragoza (Spain) who really believes in the potential of AEGEE and who expects to improve the association next year in Brussels.”.
The experience of AEGEE, after joining in 2012, taught him that there is always an opportunity for everything, you just have to look for it.
The experience Ander gained as an AEGEEan, being the Treasurer for three Erasmus Trips in 2012 and 2014, member of the Core-Team for Autumn AGORA Zaragoza 2013 and Corporate Fundraiser, recommended him for the job. Also, he is currently the CDs’ Fundraising-assistant and President of AEGEE-Zaragoza.
Asked by The AEGEEan about his plans for AEGEE Ander replied: “I want to continue ensuring the financial stability of AEGEE in the short and long-term in order to keep on carrying out our activities, looking for more funds and using them wisely, and also dedicating my time and ideas to increase our activities.”
Member of Comité Directeur: Anna Gumbau (AEGEE-Barcelona), 22 years old, who describes herself as “someone caring, idealistic, a good listener, extremely clumsy, and enthusiastic”.
AEGEE made her feel like home since 2011 and, according to her candidature, she wants to give back to AEGEE all that has been given to her. She was Editor-in-chief at The AEGEEan (2013-2014), a CD-assistant, Vice-President of AEGEE-Barcelona and responsible for Human Resources (2013/14, 2014/present). Her focus lies on communication and motivation of the members.
In the interview for the candidates, Anna declared: “in terms of internal communication, I want to strive for transparency and to ensure that our members are well-informed what these seven people in the CD are doing in Brussels, as well as to strengthen the dialogue with our members and locals.”
Member of Comité Directeur: Pablo Hernández (AEGEE-Alicante/AEGEE-Thessaloniki), 24 years old, considers himself as “another European citizen who wants to actively contribute to the development of our society and the defense of youth rights.”
After joining AEGEE in 2010, his evolution began quickly: from being the Secretary of AEGEE-Alicante (2011-2012) he became President the next year and in 2014, he moved to Thessaloniki and became a Member of the Advisory Board of AEGEE-Thessaloniki. He has been a Policy Officer since 2013.
In the interview for the Candidates taken by The AEGEEan, Pablo speaks about his programm: “In my candidature I have tried to transversely show three different aspects: First, I am confident about my knowledge, abilities, experience and motivation to assume the responsibilities linked to the position I am applying to. Second, as I exposed in my programme, I have ideas to improve the current organisation of this association in order to maximise our impact.”
Member of Comité Directeur: Réka Salamon (AEGEE-Aachen/AEGEE-Debrecen), 24 years old, defines herself as a meticulous and perfectionist person who “became the right balance of realistic-idealist over the years”
After joining AEGEE in 2011 she became the Coordinator of the ‘Europe on Track’ project 1st and 2nd edition, joined the Public Relations Committees’ Speaker Team (2012-2014) and she has been a CD-assistant three times.
She reveals her thoughts for The AEGEEan on being a CD Member: “The main role is to keep an overview of a hopefully ascending line of improvement on a certain field the CD member is responsible for.
Being one of the ‘directors’ means a constant load of intertwined tasks, from developing strategies to being in constant contact with the network and answer its needs. No matter how different things could seem in the Brussels bubble, the CD members always have to act representing the network’s opinion and keeping its best interests in mind.”
We were able to ask two questions to the elected members of the CD:
How do you feel about your new team?
Maria Arends resigned from her position in June. After launching several Open Call, the newly elected Comité Directeur and the current one appointed Maryana Semenyak (AEGEE-Lviv) as interim member of the Comité Directeur.
Written by Gabriela Cioată, AEGEE-București