Located in the Don region, AEGEE-Rostov-na-Donu was elected as Local of the Month of January for their outstanding job in organizing the past Network Meeting. The local was founded in 2011, and since then they manage to be an active part of our network. The AEGEEan spoke with the president Anna Shevchenko, the secretary Alla Serikova, HR responsible Evgenia Kopytina and treasurer Lubov’ Blinkova in order to discover more about their local. 

AEGEE-Rostov-na-Donu is quite young. Can you tell us more about the history, the reason behind the creation and your struggles?

Our Antenna started with a conversation between Irina Burmistrova, our founder, and her friends who are members of AEGEE-Voronezh. Ira was so excited to hear about international events which can be organized just by small group of students and so it was. We were lucky to receive the University’s support. It was not easy, it took a lot of time, but it was worth it! The Network Commissioner who supported us and helped to create our antenna was Olya Yatsyna. We want to underline, that the support of Network Commission and all AEGEE family was amazing. We will remember forever the Spring Agora Enschede, where our antenna was created! First board consisted of Ira as a President and four of her friends as Secretary, Treasurer, HR and PR. So as you can see, at the beginning AGEEE-Rostov-na-Donu was just a group of fellow-students, who were full of energy and enthusiasm to organize something really great! And so it was the first Summer Uniersity, which was organized together with AEGEE-Voronezh. Although the Rostov part was smaller, the important thing for our Antenna happened – it started to grow and attract more members.

 What do you think is the best achievement of your local? What makes you special?

I guess the best achievement of our local was our first, and yet only, independently organized Summer University. It was a really big decision for us to make it on our own, because at the moment we didn’t have enough experience. But we decided that it was just the right time to start to gain this experience! Our special feature is that, being one of Russia’s antenna, we can introduce a special type of culture, which differs in some ways from the Russian culture, which is wide-known among foreigners. Our goal is to show, that there are a lot of various nations here. The region of our antenna – the South-West of Russia – is lived by tens of different peoples, from Russians and Armenians to small ethnic groups like Cossacks. This variety of languages, cultures and stories makes us special.

You organized a Network Meeting (NWM) recently, what are the outcomes? Was it difficult?

Organizing a NWM was a spontaneous idea, one of such like “ok, why not organizing it?” Of course there were some problems, among which there were discussions on the main theme of NWM – Slavic spirit. The matter is, we should have introduced the idea of common Slavic basis and to maintain our special feature as “the Don people” at the same time. But we came to the conclusion, that it would be also nice to try this sphere. The outcome for our antenna was great! As with every event, we gathered more active people who joined our antenna. Together with useful information, we have gained priceless experience of working together with the Network Commission. Of course, we became more united and closer to each other!

Geographically you are closer with some Ukranian antennae, what is your position about what is happening now with #euromaidan? Do you have any special collaboration with them?

Most members of our local are interested in #euromaidan events. Of course we are, because all Russians now concentrate their sights on Ukraine. Indeed, the region of AEGEE-Rostov-na-Donu is strongly connected historically and economically with Ukraine. Some of our members – and even members of the board, visited Kiev to support our friends from AEGEE-Kiev. We also stay connected with locals from Lviv, Kharkiv and Sevastopol. Moreover, before our Antenna was created, there were a few trips to NWMs in Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev, Odessa and Kharkiv. Exactly after NWM in Kiev we decided to create our antenna. So, you see, Ukrainian antennas play a very important role in the life of AEGEE-Rostov-na-Donu.

 How do you manage to stay connected with the network? 

We receive letters with the latest AEGEE news and use groups in Facebook. We are really thankful to our subcommissioner Natasha Ivleva from AEGEE-Voronezh. She supports us and explains the important details of board’s duties.

In 2012 it was “Upon the Rainbow”, in it was 2013 “Feel Europe, speak Russian”… any plans for the upcoming summer?

Sure! We have already worked out the concept of our next SU for the year 2014. As usually, we decided to try something new for us, so the main idea, cities visited and the program will differ from those of last SU. However, this coming SU will surely have the spirit of the South-West of Russia with its special romance and atmosphere. So it seems that we have still plenty of things to do. We have a lot to offer!

 What are the next steps for your locals?

 After NWM we came to the conclusion of cooperating with Working Groups on different topics. Also it is very important for us now that members of AEGEE-Rostov-na-Donu could not just organize events, but also take part in European events. So, wait for us, Rostov is coming!

Also we would like to point out the great role of guys from Taganrog – the city near Rostov, who helped us a lot with Summer Universities and NWM. Taganrog team even organized its own part of SU! So we would like to support them as much as we can so that they could possibly build their own Antenna.

We wish AEGEE-Rostov-na-Donu the brightest future!

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

In Agora Zaragoza we saw changes to the Network Commission. Emotional goodbyes had to be said to Claudio Armandi, Bartek Sudorowski, Pilar Lop, Inez Wenta, and Andra Toma. At the same time the ZarAgora gave a warm welcome to Arsenis Tselengidis, Pauline Létard, Holger Schmidt, Mateusz Dokurno and Mattia Abis. In this NetCom telegram you will get to hear about what Bartek, Inez, Vira, Dominique, Patricia, Pauline and Claudio did the months prior to the big event in Zaragoza, while working for the Network Commission. 

Bartek

Bartek Sudorowski

Recently I have been struggling with an unpleasant event in my family life. This was the main reason that I decided o detach from any other activities for a short period of time. However, that does not mean that I did not work. I am working on preparation for Autumn Network Meeting together with my fellow Network Commissioner Inez Wenta and AEGEE-Poznań. I am also keeping in touch with the coordinators of EBM in Lublin. I have a fresh update of progress on the preparation of the project. From 6th to 12th September I was co-organizing the Academic Campus Swinoujscie 2013, the event where freshmen students can adapt to students’ life. I was promoting AEGEE and I was giving trainings on PR, HR, and public speaking. I also have changed the team of AEGEE.pl website and am working on finalizing the work. Moreover I’m working on the expansion of the Network, but this case is so fresh that I don’t want to say anything more about it untill it will happen.

Claudio

Claudio Armandi

I cannot write my last NetCom Telegram without getting a bit emotional. It’s been a great year that will leave me with a lot of wonderful memories. They normally say “Netcommie once, Netcommie forever”. I will feel always a bit responsible and protective towards my beloved locals, even if I am sure they will be in safe hands for the upcoming years.

In August, most of my locals were busy with their Summer Universities and they sometimes needed just small advise. Two of my Contacts were busy preparing their statutes for the big moment in which they signed the Convention d’Adhésion in Zaragoza.

September has been quite hectic. There were many candidates from my locals, and I was in touch with all of them. Furthermore, many locals needed a bit of assistance for Agora-related bureaucracy. In this month I also selected participants for my last Network Meeting in Foggia and defined the program.

September was also the month of my final and biggest achievement. Italian locals finally submitted an official request to join their national Youth Forum. It was the only point in my plans that I hadn’t fulfilled yet. Now I can say I did my homework!

Dominique

Dominique Lenssen

Now Summer has ended and everything is getting back to normal. Well, ‘normal’…. With the Agora coming closer and closer, my work as a NetCommie was as busy as always! Staying in touch with locals to remind them about all the deadlines, answering questions, checking the status of locals together with Beata Matuszka and so on.

Where August was for my locals all about gaining new members during their introduction weeks, September was the month in which the boards of most of my locals changed. This meant getting to know the new board members! A perfect opportunity to do this are ‘constitution drinks’, where board members come to a local to congratulate the new board. I have been to these meetings of AEGEE-Enschede, AEGEE-Delft and AEGEE-Leiden, which was a perfect opportunity to meet many new boards at the same time.

Also the preparations for the NWM are going well. In my last Activity Report you could read that the NWM would take place in Nijmegen, but due to logistical reasons this has been moved to Utrecht. The theme for NWM Utrecht is ‘Key to your AEGEE future’, so apply now if you want to learn everything about the future of AEGEE, the development of your local and so much more in the beautiful city of Utrecht.

Inez

Inez Wenta

The Summer ended, but… the whole new academic year started! As you know there’re many new boards starting their work, so also many hours of knowledge transfer! It’s great to see all the motivation and passion for AEGEE and I hope everyone will succeed in their amazing plans.

Also preparation for the NWM Poznań “Share your secret. AEGEE Know-How.” started to be really intensive. Together with Bartek and the coordinator Justyna Zielska from AEGEE-Poznań, we want to create an unforgettable experiance for you all. I hope that this will be the opportunity to meet, discuss and create new ideas for people all over the Network!   Almost 200 AEGEEans in one place? And it’s not EBM? It’s possible! Just come to Poznań!

I’m very happy to say that I see the Network evolving and exploring new grounds – amazing projects are coming up! We’re trying to make some more steps. Even if Summer ended and we’re again working and studying, in the new academic year we gain a fresh start, great ideas and an amazing amount of positive energy! How can you not love AEGEE?

Vira

Vira Kakhnych

It has been a stressful month due to Agora preparations and organizing a Network Meeting. Trying to keep in constant contact with a variety of AEGEEans (considering a huge time difference) was very challenging. A big huge ‘thank you’ to my subcommissioners and the excellent team of Rostov-na-Donu for their efficiency in collaboration and great ideas. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to attend this Agora, but I have heard it was awesome.

I would also like to take this opportunity and welcome the new colleagues in Network Commission! Guys, I wish you all the best for this term! Welcome to our family!

Patricia

Patricia Anthony

Before the Agora I was finishing up my internship in Valladolid (Spain) and at the same time I had to deal with personal health matters. Luckily I have an amazing team helping with preparation of the upcoming Network Meeting in Tartu. Maria Arends and Sergio Oliveros have been working hard on preparing the program for it and I am sure that it will be great and I am beyond jealous that I cannot go, as taking part in NWMs is one of my favorite things in AEGEE. Instead I keep trying to find ways to help the antennae from home with improving and before the Agora I tried in every possible way to ensure that the delegates came prepared to Spain, and indeed they came to Zaragoza full of knowledge about the event.

Pauline together with fellow Network Commissioner Mattia Abis – Picture courtesy of Golden Times

Pauline Létard

October was a month quite busy for me because I have been preparing the Agora in three ways. First as a delegate of AEGEE-Toulouse, I read all the candidatures, proposals and activity reports and talked about it with my antenna and some friends of mine. Then as subcommie, I worked together with Pilar and the Tripulación 5.1 to make sure all the delegates of our area were getting all the information needed for the Agora through the Facebook group we created. Guillermo Macia Diaz, from AEGEE-Alicante, summed up the proposals in Spanish. Based on his work, we wrote a guide for delegates in English: a sum up of the proposals and a voting guide “how to choose the best candidate”. I contacted all the bodies whose members would be elected at the Agora in order to give to the delegate an idea of what is the “ideal candidate” for the positions concerned. Thirdly I was also preparing the Agora as candidate for Netcom. For this reason this Agora was really special for me, a new step in my AEGEE life, the Agora during which I became Netcommie!

Written by the Network Commission