Alya Vykhodtseva and Viktoria Leonenko are just two of the most active members during Agora Kyïv. Alya was in the PR team and Viktoria was external communication and University team leader. They both learned a lot from this experience and enjoyed it while doing so. Naturally, because they did an amazing job, they were also nominated for Member of the Month, the Agora edition. So, we thought of asking them a few questions to get to know them better. 

The AEGEEan: Hello, let us begin by introducing yourselves.

Viktoria: Hi! I am Viktoria Leonenko, Secretary of AEGEE-Kyïv 2014/2015 and Board Advisor 2015/2016

Alya: I always thought one could easily meet a person like me in the transports or in the street. No, seriously, I’m just an average student from Kyïv. I study psychology, try to do something else aside from lessons – including performances at the university and recently AEGEE, – and I am quite a regular and simple girl, absolutely the same as dozens of people in our city. I think that’s rather good than bad.

How long have you been members of AEGEE?

Viktoria: I joined AEGEE in April 2013, so, it’s almost two and a half years since I am a member of this amazing organisation.

 Alya: Right during the Agora I kind of celebrated my own small anniversary – six  months in AEGEE. I joined the local in the middle of April this year, so I’m perfectly  sure the following years will give me way more AEGEE-experience then I have now.  [she smiles]

 What was your biggest accomplishment in AEGEE so far?

 Viktoria: Organising Autumn Agora Kyiv 2015 and the ReBuilding Democracy project.

 Alya: Then again, I think in future (the nearest future, I believe) I will achieve way  more, but for now I already took part in some events, which definitely were a good piece of experience. After the LTC right after my “initiation”, I was a helper at the Ukrainian SU and it certainly exceeded all my expectations. I never thought it would be such a cool thing, and I’m happy it ended up as such. Later I gave a hand with the organisation of a couple of parties and, of course, almost all the time spent in AEGEE I worked for preparation of the Agora and I suppose it is my biggest achievement so far.

What were your tasks during the Agora?

Viktoria: I was External communication and University team leader. So, I was in charge of communication with the government and I negotiated for Agora location (Kyïv National University Taras Shevchenko).

Alya: Since June I worked in the brilliant PR team, which obviously was an amazing experience. Actually I think every team did a lot for the event, and we are not an exception. Moreover, I’m proud that our team was responsible for creating the image of the Agora, and I think we did well. [she smiles] I was also responsible for the page of ReBuilding Democracy project and later, directly before the Agora, I worked in PR at the Agora Fair team, which also turned out to be a group of amazingly warm, friendly and goal-oriented people. So I hope my small contribution to the overall work was one of the bricks which actually built the Agora.

What was your overall impression of the Agora Kyiv? 

Viktoria: We had been working hard during the year and I hope that participants enjoyed what we have done as for us it’s the most important thing. For me Agora happened too fast, so I even didn’t notice how it was and I didn’t enjoy it as before. By the way, Agora is my favorite AEGEE event. To be honest after Agora I had mixed feelings: on the one hand, I felt finally released from Agora’s headache [she laughs] and on the other hand, I felt empty and I realized that I need to change values and start another page in my life.

Alya: I had waited for it since the first time I heard about it. And I must admit it was even better than I imagined. Just the fact of hundreds foreigners coming to Kyïv and Ukrainian students coordinating everything seemed almost impossible to me. I’m proud it turned out to be not only possible, but also well-organised and of great quality.

Do you have any future plans in AEGEE? 

 Viktoria: Now I am Board Advisor. I will help and advise our lovely new board. For sure, I will support the new Secretary, but she is doing a really great job even without me. [she laughs]

 Alya: Not that I had some certain plans, but I already imagine what would I like to do and for now it seems to be something inbetween PR and organising events. As exams are coming I’d probably spend some time studying in the following months, but after that I’m going to pay way more attention to AEGEE things and maybe offer a couple of ideas for spending time together, for example. As for some long-term plans…well, I never plan those ahead, because nobody knows what can happen and change them all, right? So I have a rough idea, but won’t plan everything in detail. [she smiles]

What are your future plans in life?

Viktoria: I prefer to keep in secret my future plans and to only show results. [she laughs]

Alya: Difficult to say for sure as well, but I have some general aims and directions. To start with, I’m thinking about getting a master’s degree abroad – most likely  in the Netherlands, so for now I consider possible variants and study languages. Besides, I’d really love to get some experience in working with human resources, so as soon as education allows me (in Ukraine it’s around the third year at university), I’m planning to put it in practice at a job. But aside from that, I’ve also always loved writing and have some experience in writing articles, so I think trying journalism can be a good idea as well – really, why not? What I’d love to be a part of my future is travelling. I already know that as soon as I can afford it all by myself, I’ll visit Iceland – always dreamed to see the land of ice and fire with my own eyes. I have an amazing example in my family – a person, who inspires me a lot and who visited almost all European countries, a couple of Asian countries and the USA, so I sincerely hope to overcome this amount of countries. [she smiles]

What hobbies do you have?  

Viktoria: I love riding the bicycle, reading dystopian novels, hitchhiking and, of course, travelling!

Alya: When I’m asked this question, I understand everything I do as a hobby is very amateur, but still, I love it. Probably my biggest love is music – I can hardly imagine a day without singing, playing or at least listening to my favourite tracks. Maybe if in my early childhood I had decided to dedicate my whole life to it, I would be a music student now, but I happen to play just for my own pleasure and I’m not complaining about it. Anyway, I always loved the feeling of getting myself lost in music and I think it will always take a special place in my heart. Another thing I love is writing and I’m used to write poems and stories since I wrote a fairytale when I was 5 and my mom said I will be a great writer. But then again, it is still a hobby and writing helps rather to splash out some emotions. I also have a couple of hobbies people sometimes consider to be unusual for a girl. For example, as almost all men in my family work with computers and electronics, I watched it since childhood and, of course, I was extremely interested in it. So, now I’m able to fix some small problems with my computer by myself, but somehow it surprises or even scares people – I honestly have no idea, why! Also, I have always loved cars and recently I took the course of traffic rules and engine building, and while others are listening to music or talking while sitting in the car, I watch the road from the front seat, rate the passing cars and discuss the new Hyundai and the last generation of Ford Fusion. On top of that, I love watching football and can name all the players of FC Bayern München. I have absolutely no idea why people say these are not things for girls – I think they just don’t know too many girls. [she smiles]

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

For the first time, we collected nominations for Local and Member of the Month during the Autumn Agora Kyïv Fair. We received a lot of nominations and, after some consideration, we elected our Member of the Month (MOM) – Agora Edition. The recipient turned out to be Philipp Blum from AEGEE-Aachen, who is also the newly elected IT and Publication Responsible of the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT). We asked him some questions to get to know him better. 

The AEGEEan: Philipp, please introduce yourself!

Philipp: Always a kid, sometimes serious. I’m 24 and doing too much for AEGEE. Full of sarcasm and inappropriate jokes (but I was forbidden to use in this interview): being politically correct is not my style.

How does it feel to be nominated MOM – Agora Edition?

Amazing! It was an amazing Agora for me, where I think I was very active and visible, but I didn’t expect this. Motivation for even more to come (he smiles, ed].)?

Who do you think nominated you?

What about you, Eri?

You were President of AEGEE-Aachen. How was the experience of running the local?

It’s been an amazing year, in which I learned a lot and had a lot of great feedback from my fellow board members. It’s definitely a great feeling to lead and not to follow. In the beginning, I was not sure how the fellow board members and I would handle the situation, because most of us had been in the board already, which meant a change in the hierarchy. Luckily, this went very well and we had great times together. Towards the end, there was a very tiring period where my head was constantly full of dates and checklists. A lot of tasks were concentrating at the same time, we had meetings almost daily and we had troubles finding people for a new board. All in all, it was a bit hard to let go in the end, because it was an awesome year.

What is the best memory you have about being President?

When I first met our Summer University participants, I was actually celebrating a good friend’s birthday in a pub, and they by chance came to the same bar. The responsible was like “and this is our President” and everyone came and said hi to me and we had a great night. That was a very happy moment for me and I think it finally made me realise what it’s like to be a President.

This year you were Creative Director of Key to Europe. Tell us more about your job and how the final product turned out?

That was a great experience. I was very happy to work together with Vincent Bass (AEGEE-Enschede), Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Verona) and others in the team which made it acceptable even if at 2am all your files seem corrupted. When in Kyïv, I couldn’t wait to see it and I think I was just looking through it for two hours. The colours really looked gorgeous, and I am very happy with it.

Why did you decide to apply for such a position?

When I saw the previous Key to Europe, I knew that I didn’t want pixelated images to happen again. This, combined with the fact that I planned to quit the board and would have time, was basically it.

During the Agora you were elected in the SUCT and for one year you will cover the position of IT and Publication Responsible. How did you prepare for the role?

I bought a handbook “PHP for dummies”, so I think I will be able to manage the website (he smiles, ed.). No, to be honest, I am doing freelance web development, I did my Bachelor project in PHP and study computer science. I enjoy it, and I am confident I can manage the website. As for the other task: I often have to order materials for our local, and I know what it’s like to have a deadline for those, because otherwise they are just not around. After working for the Key to Europe I became confident enough to apply for the position of Publication Responsible for such a big project.

You have already started your term with a team meeting in Bruxelles. How are the vibes so far?

That was a really short-term idea, and I am really happy it worked out. I didn’t know Yevgeniya Gagarina (AEGEE-Kyïv) and Carolina Alfano (AEGEE-Salerno) at all, so I was very curious how it is going to be working together. Until now, it’s awesome. It’s only the beginning of November, and it feels like we already did quite a few things. But in the big picture, I see that we have a lot of work ahead, and I am happy we started early.

Seven candidates and four positions and yet you smashed it, receiving the impressive number of 233 votes out of 260 available. How thin is the air up there?

I went trekking in Nepal two years ago so I am used to it.

Always smiling and in a good mood and energetic. This was one of the reasons why you were nominated. What is your secret?

I drink champagne for breakfast, my motto is “Why not?”, and I am pretty much an optimist. Mostly, there is no reason why you should believe something will not work, so believe it will.

Last but not least, let’s play a little game. Explain you and your personality using the letters that compose your name (I.e. P as Pacifist, H as hilarious, I as iconic).

Perfect

Humble

Intelligent

Lazy

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona