During Spring Agora Bergamo, our magazine got some space to hand out the certificates for Local and Member of the Month. One local in particular had a nice surprise, AEGEE-Voronezh, that discovered they are the Local of the Month of April. We asked Svetlana Merenkova, President of the local, some questions to know more about this them!

The AEGEEan: Please, introduce your local.

Svetlana: We are AEGEE-Voronezh – a local in the central part of Russia

You were selected as the Local of the Month of April. How does it feel?

It feels great. We didn’t expect it and were overwhelmed with joy when it happened.

The reason why you were selected was your Network Meeting, how was it?

Our NWM “Let’s Twist Again” was a successful event full of new ideas, active discussions and AEGEE spirit. We liked it a lot and hope that all our participants did as well. It gave us the motivation to continue our work and develop our local as much as possible and be more active.

What is the strongest asset of your local?

Definitely the people. We are a team and each of us contributes a lot to the development and success of our local. We are all different, but share the same ideas and passion towards AEGEE.

What does AEGEE mean to you?

AEGEE is a mix of everything that young people can dream for: self-development, new opportunities, a chance to really make a difference, great people and experience, which you can’t compare with anything. It’s far more that just and oganisation. AEGEE is a way of life.

How has AEGEE impacted your community?

AEGEE-Voronezh is a small antenna and we can’t say that our community was impacted much by this fact since AEGEE was established in our city, but we are trying to do our best to change that. For example, this April we were involved in “Clean April”, an event dedicated to separate trash recycling. These were small steps towards changing our community for the better and we are hoping for more.

What are your future projects?

Currently we are organising two Summer Universities, so for now these are our main priorities, but we also have other plans and hopefully you will hear about them soon.

You can learn more about Local and Member of the Month here.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Voronezh, located roughly halfway between Moscow and Rostov-on-Don, is hosting one of the ten Network Meetings this spring. The programme’s sneak peak is enticing, the members of AEGEE-Voronezh are motivated, and their mascot is adorable. For a closer look on this event from 07/04 till 10/04  we turn to former NetCommie, and organiser of this NWM, Natalia Ivleva.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us a bit more about the people who are organising the upcoming NWM?

Natalia: The team of organisers mostly consist of the local board of AEGEE-Voronezh. With some of team-members I’ve been working for almost three years, and others joined our team last summer and were really helpful with SU organisation. Also, we will have some active helpers who always give a really great input in the organisational process of all our events.

And of course our main helper is A-Ёzh, the new mascot of AEGEE-Voronezh.

So, we have a really great, strong and experienced team of colleagues, friends and true AEGEEans [She smiles]

I’m very proud to be a part of this team!

Why has AEGEE-Voronezh decided to organise a NWM this year?

AEGEE-Voronezh have discussed this idea for quite a long time. But only now we have enough resources, support and passion to organise an amazing NWM. So, we applied through the open call and were chosen by the NetCom team.

Has AEGEE-Voronezh organised NWMs in the past, and were they similar to each other and to this one?

For AEGEE-Voronezh as organisers this is the first NWM but as a former NetCommie I personally have some experience in organising, coordinating and facilitating NWMs and I may say that they are all totally different.

Could you tell us something about the programme of the NWM?

The content managers of all the NWMs are always NetCommies and they are still working on the most relevant topics and the coolest workshops.

What can we promise from our side? Interesting city-quest, tasty food, amazing parties and lots of kurazh (if you know what I mean [she says cheekily] )

How many people do you expect will come to your NWM, and from which nationalities do you think they will be?

We have already reserved 25 spots at the hostel for our participants but will be really happy to host more.

As for nationalities… Don’t you know that AEGEE don’t have a national level and not look at nationalities?

Of course, we are expecting to see lots of members from the nearest locals and some of them have already started searching for  tickets and packing their stuff and also we are open to applicants from all over the Network.

Why would you recommend people to attend your NWM; what sets you apart from the others or previous NWMs?

“Let’s twist again!” That is the name, the motto and the main tune of our NWM. Our team will provide great combo of interesting sessions, amazing parties, serious discussions, fun moments and unforgettable atmosphere for you!

Come to NWM Voronezh and ‘Let’s twist again’!

You can check the event on Facebook here and apply here and here.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

After Contacts in Tyumen and Yekaterinburg were added to the Network, on the 28^th of November yet another contact in Russia was announced: Yaroslavl. The AEGEEan spoke to Evgenii Potapov to find out more about the newest addition to the Network!

Evgenii found out about AEGEE-Europe through a very good friend, who took part in an AEGEE event organized in Azerbaijan. “She came back to Yaroslavl and told me about this amazing student organisation and the opportunities it provides, and I immediately decided to start a contact there!” At the moment of the interview there were only five people involved, but the contact was only open for a week at that time so it can be seen as a good start!

Asked about the plans, Evgenii explains us that the main goals are to sign the Convention d’Adhesion at the Agora and build up a strong, unique (contact) antenna in Yaroslavl. “To achieve this, I have to build a perfect team of at least ten members. I think in the beginning the team will consist of my friend, because they are very active and positive people that I can trust. I have already made a presentation using AEGEE’s Visual Identity, which I will use to present AEGEE at the Yaroslavl State University. I also have some ideas for two local projects, but I won’t talk about it before all the details have been discussed. Yaroslavl is a very old and beautiful city, so why wouldn’t we hold a Summer University here?”

Although only recently started, the new Contact already gets a lot of support from AEGEE-Voronezh and NetCom Natalia Ivleva. Let’s hope we will hear more about Yaroslavl in the upcoming months!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

After the announcement of the new contact in Tyumen not too long ago, on the 25^th of November it was announced that AEGEE-Europe has yet another Russian contact, this time in Yekaterinburg, which is the fourth-largest city in Russia, located on the border of Europe and Asia. The AEGEEan spoke to Alina Kozlineeva to find out more about this new contact!

Working for one of the universities located in Yekaterinburg, Alina found out about AEGEE through one of her students and decided to start her own contact of AEGEE out of “interest and curiosity”. For now she is the only one involved in the contact, but she has confidence in finding more members to join her soon. She has weekly meetings with students where she can talk to them and promote AEGEE.

Besides promotion and gaining new members, Alina also wants to learn as much as possible about AEGEE, get in contact with the Russian locals and get involved with the “AEGEE life and events”. Right now she is already in contact with one of the Russian locals, namely AEGEE-Voronezh, who are supporting the new contact in Yekaterinburg. Hopefully, soon AEGEE-Europe will have another local in Russia, together with Tyumen of course!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen