Meet your Netcommies Volume #1

In their Facebook Page, you can read that the Network Commission is always open. It is not far from the truth! The NetCom has been established in 1996 and it has been caring and serving our locals for 21 years already. In Autumn Agora Chișinău we elected six new Netcommies, who, together with the Network Director Tekla Hajdu, are working hard to collaborate, protect and look after our locals. We asked them some questions and here are the answers of Aleksandra Mojsova, Alejandra Piot, Alin Georgescu, Pablo Palazon and Spyros Papadatos. 

The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself.

Aleksandra: I am Aleksandra Mojsova from AEGEE-Skopje and also a member of AEGEE-Nis. I have been an absolute fan of the association since I joined AEGEE and since day one, I was interested in the Network Commission. I also took all the other opportunities to contribute to the AEGEE life.

Alejandra: Hey! I am Alejandra, a member of AEGEE-A Coruña since September 2013 and the former president of my local. I love photography, books and music. I am totally in love with AEGEE and travelling. It is the most beautiful and amazing thing that I can imagine.

What is the strongest point of your assigned locals? What are your plans for the locals in your area?

Aleksandra: They are passionate and good-spirited. Some of them are good in PR, some of them in FR, some of them have amazing teamwork and great spirit, always offering something to each other! My plans are to work on some tips and tricks files with each area’s expertise – Board functions mostly – to upload them in a common drive, to offer them other tips and tricks for training workshops.

Alejandra: Most of them have a really good relation with the universities and their support, so it’s easy to promote AEGEE there. Also, some of them work a lot with Erasmus students, which is also a good point. I want to promote the idea of following the Action Agenda and Strategic plan more to have more members interested in the main goals of AEGEE, and also promote the idea to be involved in European Bodies.

Alin: Hard to say because geographically, they are very well-connected to each other. There are less active locals, but also very strong and active locals, so there is a balance, a balance which I will use to build up my Network more. As I said, I want to have this legacy of AEGEE, to keep members motivated, focus on locals needs more, fill the gap between local and European bodies. My biggest challenge is to make members work more under Erasmus+ programme.

What is the meaning of the NetCom Motto “To Serve and Protect” for you?

Aleksandra: To literally be on duty 24/7. To be always available for all of my locals, whatever they ask for, whatever they need. It sometimes sounds like exaggerating, (or at least, what I have heard), but indeed a Network Commissioner should be protective and caring!

Alejandra: Basically, that we are there for and with the locals, to help them with everything, literally, give advises and be there for them.

Alin: Exactly as a team, what we are doing are taking care of our locals, answer to their needs, help them to grow and become more and more active.

Spyros: For me, these four words summarise the essence of this commission. The NetCom was created to serve and protect the Network, the locals. We all may have started from a local, but as a NetCommie you feel part of many locals at the same time because your locals feel like parts of you. So for me, the most important thing is not only trying to maintain them but to bring something new, work to achieve the best and generally bring it to the next level.

A day in the NetCom shoes. How does your typical day look like?
Aleksandra: Oh, it is easy to dedicate your day to the Netcom once you start. If you do not have an alarm nearby, you can easily have two. Checking local’s activities, duties, submissions, reminding, answering, helping them with anything (PR, FR, Members Portal, events, etc.). Apart from that, there is the internal Netcom cooperation and the communication with other bodies of AEGEE daily.

Spyros: A lot of work from your computer. You might be talking to five, six people at the same time, writing a lot of emails (especially in the Speaker Team) and living on Skype (or Hangouts sometimes for the change). But all this seems so small when you meet your locals during events or in their cities, which is priceless in my opinion, and fills me with motivation.

 

Alejandra: Our day always starts with Podio, some of us love it, others hate it, but it is our day. Skype calls more or less two or three times per week, sometimes more. WhatsApp, Facebook, e-mail… We can not live without that. Questions, suggestions, more questions… Always like this! Sometimes it is crazy, but, I love it!

 

Alin: A typical day like one of other young people of my age. There is nothing special, just more responsibilities and more deadlines. Maybe more travels, more Skype meetings and AEGEEan lifestyle. [He smiles, ed.]

 

Why did you decide to run for a place in the Netcom in Autumn Agora Chisinau?

Alejandra: I had this motivation to do it since Agora Bergamo, but I did not feel confident at all until the former NetCom of La Nave and one of my lovely subcommies told me that I was quite good for this. I really love the Network Commission. Being in this body which is in touch with the locals the most. It is amazing, you can learn a lot from the and be able to help them.

Alin: I have joined AEGEE three years ago and I started from the local level step by step, managing a local, learning about AEGEE and its opportunities. It is a path that I decided to follow. I determined that now is the right time for me to move on, make a big step and join this Commission. After all, it is a legacy made by people like me, taking responsibility, one after another. I want to be part of this legacy, maybe this is the strongest reason that keeps me motivated and made me choose to run for the Netcom.

 

Spyros and Alejandra have being elected as Speaker and Vice-Speaker of the commission. Why did you decide to run for the speaker team? What are your main tasks?

Spyros: Last term, I decided not to run for speaker team because I wanted first to test the waters as a regular NetCommie and see how I am pulling through. Yet, this term, I decided to run as speaker because it felt like the right thing to do and I wanted to contribute even more to the internal part of NetCom. My main tasks are to organise the internal work of NetCom, coordinate our weekly meetings, keep an overview of our work and our projects. It was a great honour that my fellow team members trusted me. Together with Alejandra, the vice-speaker, we are trying every day to the best. This is also a big thank you for Alejandra because without her it would be impossible!.

Alejandra: I just joined the Network Commission in Chisinau, but for me, it was also a challenge to run for the Vice-Speaker. I was curious about how the work was and also how to be more involved there. My main tasks take minutes during the meetings and accept reimbursements and take care of the budget. We also have weekly meetings and more tasks that Spyros and I shared depending on our availabilities.

You met in Brussels for your team meeting. How did it go? What were the main topics of discussions? Were there funny moments?

Alejandra: It was amazing. As I could not be in Chisinau to present my candidature, I didn’t know most of them in person and I realise that they are really cool as workers and persons. We were discussing many topics, but mostly about Spring NWMs and the State of the Network, how we can improve it and how it is now. Also, about the NetCom projects, more news will come!

Pablo: It went really well! We have a quite good environment among Netcommies and also between Netcommies and CD members so everything was quite good! The “problem” of the Netcom Meetings is that they last reaaaally long, On Saturday we had dinner at 1 in the morning, so you can figure out that we were quite tired! We had a lot of discussions about the state of the network, activity plans, projects and feedbacks from the last term! One of the funny moments is when one of our Netcommies (not giving the name, he smiled. ed) felt asleep on the table during one looong discussion. I guess everybody deserves a little moment to disconnect!

 

What is the Netcom Plan for Chisinau-Enschede Term?
Pablo: We are going to be working on a lot of stuff. Emphasis will be put in creating an AEGEEnda with all the events. Locals from the Spanish, Portugues and French Network (or La Nave) have one, we are just going to try to make them share it in a more official way! Twinder will also be working on, Toolkits for contacts, visibility of the NetCom, etc…. Lots of cool projects that you will see the results in the next few months!

How is it to work with the Commissioners?
Tekla: In one word: Awesome! But to explain it a little bit more, I think the team dynamics is going well currently, we put emphasis on bringing up several topics and viewpoints to discuss openly within the team. We also highlight the importance of teamwork within the Commission, as the workload is huge and giving support to each other has a great importance – that’s why we also did a lot of team-building activities during the NetCom Meetings apart from the sessions. I am trying to be transparent to both the Network Commission and CD as my task within the Commission as CD responsible is also to bring the initiatives and the views of the two teams together.

 

You can read their Activity Plan here. Do not forget you can attend one of the ten Network Meetings that will take place this spring in Thessaloniki, Debrecen, Nijmegen, Torino, Yerevan, Gdansk, Bamberg, Novi-Sad, Heidelberg and Bilbao.  

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona