Last October, AEGEE-Verona organised the event entitled “Perchè l’Europa unita ieri e oggi?” (Eng. Why a united Europe, yesterday and today?), directly connected with Spreading Europtimism Focus Area (Objective 2). For this reason, they were chosen as the ACTive Local of the Month of October. We spoke with the former secretary Raffaello Corsini, and the ACT responsible Camelia Kajbaf, to find out more!
ACT: What kind of emotions did you have when you found out that AEGEE-Verona had been chosen as the ACTive local of October?
Raffaello and Camelia: We felt very happy, proud of ourselves, but also thankful and grateful to the ones who had made this decision. We are happy to be rewarded for the hard job we are doing as a young and small local. Thank you!
Why did you decide to organise the “Perchè l’Europa unita ieri e oggi?” event?
We decided to go for this activity when we had the chance to organise something in collaboration with other student organisations such as ESN, AIESEC and JFE. We were all interested in this kind of topic. As a single group, we considered that we were able to organise an event all together and with the different ways of approaching it, we could spread the idea of Europtimism more effectively.
What was the result of your activity?
The result of our activity was a conference that gathered 40 participants, who listened to a short lecture from a professor and then discussed about what is Europe today.
How do you inform your members about the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?
We inform our members about the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan by spending some time during the member meetings, but we also use to speak about them during our local events, such as the Aperitivo linguistico, or when we promote events related to them (EPM or thematic events).
Do you have any other activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?
In November last year, we organised another conference about the USA presidential elections with a special focus on how the American political system works and what was its evolution through time.
Why should other locals organise activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?
Locals should organise activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic plan, because it is a good chance to make students aware of the world they live in and to raise their knowledge and self-confidence.
Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?
Our main tips for organising thematic activities are the following: plan everything in detail and with good care, and start looking for the help of other associations if your local is too small to manage all these things on its own.
AEGEE-Verona Board 2016-2017
Can you tell us a bit more about your local?
AEGEE-Verona was refounded in 2013. At the moment, we are about 40 members and approximately 15 of them are active at the local level.
Characterize your local in one sentence.
AEGEE-Verona: Very small, but very strong!
Written by Elena Efremova, on behalf of Action Agenda Coordination Committee