In the occasion of the Youth Development month, the Youth Development Working Group reached out to four AEGEE alumni and interviewed them, with the intention to connect past, present and future of AEGEE. Here’s the fourth and last interview of the series: Maria Nomikou (formerly) from AEGEE-Athina and AEGEE-Zaragoza. 

YDWG: Hello Maria, can you introduce yourself a bit?

Maria: I am Maria, I have studied theatre studies, stage management and international and European policies in education training and research and I joined AEGEE in 2002. Since then I have spent a lot of my time travelling for AEGEE, for pleasure or for delivering training courses. At the moment, I work at the British Council in the field of education, society and social economy. I love sewing, cooking and cinema. [she smiles, ed.]

And when did you become a member of AEGEE? How many years did you volunteer in it and what have you done during those years?

I joined AEGEE in 2002 and I was very active until 2009, but somehow I stayed involved as the last training I delivered for AEGEE was in 2013. Well, last year I facilitated the team building for the CD but it was just for a couple of days. What I have done… Member of AEGEE-Athina and AEGEE-Zaragoza, one year in the board of AEGEE-Athina, speaker of the Academy twice, president of the Members Commission (i think this doesn’t exist anymore [she smiles, ed.]), trainer in more than 15 European Schools, ES2 Oviedo Manager and chief editor of the NFE book: the impact of non-formal education on young people and society.

What does AEGEE mean for you?

Travelling like an executive, working in the middle of the night like in a multinational company, partying like an animal, having a friend in every single corner of Europe, thinking of the past and smiling for all the wonderful crazy experiences AEGEE gave me.

What was the biggest thing that AEGEE brought to you?

Confidence, the feeling that you have the power to make your dreams come true.

Which skills did you improve most during your very active years in AEGEE?

I feel that my whole personality was influenced by AEGEE. In my seven most active years in AEGEE I spent endless hours working for the organisation and I travelled to numerous places. This influences not only your skills and knowledge but your attitude towards life.

Did these skills help you to find a job easily? And what is your job now?

AEGEE first of all gave me a great opportunity to discover the world of youth work and youth training. Being nominated to the European Youth Forum Pool of Trainers for three mandates (2007-2013) I had the opportunity to work in very exciting projects with big institutions and NGOs. This influenced my future a lot and what I do now is as if I followed a natural path that started with AEGEE, continued with the Forum and other companies/experiences and brought me where I am, at the British Council in Athens.

What would you say is the biggest benefit of AEGEE for young people looking for a job?

It doesn’t matter what your job will be in five, 10 or 20 years, the biggest benefit is that it makes you feel a citizen of the world. It helps you improve basic soft skills such as collaboration, organisation, sense of responsibility, intercultural skills and many more that are useful for any job, even for the ones that maybe don’t exist yet. What you need to keep in mind is that this is not something that AEGEE offers you, but something you offer yourself, with AEGEE being just the vehicle.

Do you have any advice for newbies in AEGEE?

Grab the opportunities, try hard, follow your dreams and try to find out what makes you unique. AEGEE is a great and safe place to try new things, explore your strengths and weaknesses and find other crazy people that will join you in crazy journeys.

This is the fourth and last article of a series. You can find the first here, the second here and the third here. 

Written by Batuhan Çarıkçı, Youth Development Working Group

In the occasion of the Youth Development month, the Youth Development Working Group reached out to four AEGEE alumni and interviewed them, with the intention to connect past, present and future of AEGEE. Here’s the third interview of the series: Fabian Brüggeman (formerly) from AEGEE-Düsseldorf. 

YDWG: Hello Fabian, can you introduce yourself a bit?

Fabian: Sure! I’m living in Cologne in a very nice house with five and a half flatmates (one of them is a small kid) and a cat, with a garden and a pool. The perfect place to live and relax! I am working at the university – doing project management – but I reduced my working hours in order to have more time for my own business: I am running a training company called Improve yourself, where I help my participants to improve their softskills, mostly by the means of methods of improvisational theatre, which is a lot of fun! I played improv for quite some years, but now I am rather giving classes in improv in my leisure time.

And when did you become a member of AEGEE? How many years did you volunteer in it and what have you done during those years?

I became member of AEGEE in December 2004. Actually, I just wanted to be president of the local team which took care of the Erasmus students, but I was told I “had to be in the board of AEGEE” to do so. So I thought “Whatever, just join!”. And that’s how it started. I went to my first Agora in Izmir in 2005, met great people, re-founded AEGEE Düsseldorf in 2009… In 2010 I wanted to quit. I was working back then already, and I thought it was time to let go. But I was asked to help out “one last time” for the European Ideas Factory in Gliwice. And somehow the spirit came back (maybe meeting a nice girl helped as well [he winks, ed.]). That was the time I started giving trainings in AEGEE, teaching what I had learned before being a participant in improv classes. And somehow my participants loved it! I called that workshop “Improve yourself” and at some Agoras I had to give it twice because so many people wanted to join. Since I also became a systemic coach, I joined the MemCom and one term later was elected speaker. Back then, I enjoyed giving team building trainings, also for CDs, like the one for CD just after the vote of confidence back in 2012 in Enschede. During that time, together with Katja Berendt, I made a proposal to change the MemCom into the MedCom, to make sure it can be much more helpful and step in at an earlier time. I was their president from 2012-13. My active time ended back then, but here and there I am still asked to contribute, like for example taking care of teambuilding for the current CD back in August.

What does AEGEE mean for you?

AEGEE is a playground, where its members share the same values. And with playground I mean the space to make mistakes and learn from them, improving and growing. A lot of people are annoyed that AEGEE tries to reinvent the wheel each couple of years. I disagree with them – I think it’s amazing, because that means all those people in the CD, commissions, projects… they are able to do the same mistakes and learn from them big times!

What was the biggest thing that AEGEE brought to you?

The space to grow and learn to become a trainer. At this very moment, writing the answers, I am sitting in a train going back home, because I gave a teambuilding training to a company in southern Germany. This would not have happened without AEGEE!

Which skills did you improve most during your very active years in AEGEE?

Communication, understanding (cultural) differences in people and value them, how to handle big egos without fighting against them, liking people and team work.

Did these skills help you to find a job easily?

Absolutely! I started working at a huge international IT-consulting company after my studies, and half of the time of my job interview was about AEGEE and the experiences I had in AEGEE, working in international teams. They were really curious about it!

What would you say is the biggest benefit of AEGEE for young people looking for a job? Do you have any advice for newbies in AEGEE?

I think the biggest benefit is that young people can make experiences that are valuable for future employees. Intercultural competences, communication, team work… which you can mention and stress in job interviews. Don’t just do it for your CV, but do it for yourself. If you have an intrinsic motivation, go for it, as long it’s aligned with the values of AEGEE it will be a win-win situation. You need to shape your “AEGEE-path” yourself, go and create it.

This is the third article of a series of four. You can find the first here and the second here. 

Written by Batuhan Çarıkçı, Youth Development Working Group

In the occasion of the Youth Development month, the Youth Development Working Group reached out to four AEGEE alumni and interviewed them, with the intention to connect past, present and future of AEGEE. Here’s the second interview of the series: Simon de Hartog (formerly) from AEGEE-Enschede. 

YDWG: Hello Simon, can you introduce yourself a bit?

Simon: Currently I am working at my own company as a software architect. Next to that I occasionally teach classes for both private and corporate people, ranging from personal development to IT. I unsubscribed from Holland last year in November, since I don’t have a house or a fixed place where I live.

People that go on holidays and have pets to take care of can find me on various sites. I travel from house to house every two weeks to two months, taking care of it and the pets there. My stuff fits in two suitcases in the back of my car, it’s great to be able to travel light. Every place I go, I need about a day to find supermarkets, natural places to visit and to set up my laptop and screens.

Some ask me: “But what about friends?”. The funny thing is that I noticed I actually visit more friends than I used to. I guess this is because I travel around the countries a lot more, so it’s easier to stop by friends when I am nearby.

And when did you become a member of AEGEE? How many years did you volunteer in it and what have you done during those years?

I joined AEGEE-Enschede in January 1999. A friend of mine who was in the board at that time asked me to set up the office network and server. After I did that, I thought “I might as well join the Association”. A step I have never regretted!

At first, I joined a local committee to maintain the ICT, because that’s what I was good at. The committee grew to four people, I became the chairman. I started visiting the AEGEE pub called Asterion and I met new and interesting people. They took me hitchhiking to Utrecht, Poland and beyond. My first AEGEE experience was at Agora Utrecht: all those nationalities in a single room, and we were all members of the same group of students! Awesome!

Then I started travelling more, joined statutory events and conferences, European Schools and more. Teaching classes at various IT European Schools was becoming a habit. Together with fellow nerds, we revived the IUG (Internet User Group) into the IT Working Group at Agora Udine.

Various trips to the headoffice followed, arranging the IT there, joining lots of parties and meeting new AEGEEans all the time. The statutory events became more and more dependent on IT, so together with support from various other members, an IT-responsible was appointed for statutory events just after I more or less resigned from the position. [he smiles, ed.]

What does AEGEE mean for you?

For me, AEGEE represents what it stands for: an organisation of European students spread across various countries. It is the best thing that happened to me during my studies at university. I learnt a lot about myself, others, cultures, travelling and broadened my view of the world. It provided me with a vast network of good friends and also business relations. Before I joined, I always thought of Poland as a country left of former Russia. Now, it’s only the country next to Germany, a lot closer!

What was the biggest thing that AEGEE brought to you?

Trying to put a measure on all the things AEGEE has given me is not possible for me, let alone ranking them! In general, I believe AEGEE brings three things to any member, each of course in varying degrees: personal development, fun, travelling and cultural experience.

I’ve been lucky to be able to say I received all three. It greatly improved my social skills, because they were lacking behind when I started university. I’ve also learned a lot about management, organising events, how to deal with various types of organisations and getting comfortable wearing a suit. [he smiles, ed.]

The fun part hardly needs explanation. Parties, inspiring (or sometimes not so inspiring) workshops, organisation of statutory meetings, visiting beautiful places, meeting beautiful people, and last but not least, getting a glimpse of what goes on behind the chairtable!

Which skills did you improve the most during your very active years in AEGEE?

How to make contact with people in a good way, getting insights on how different cultures work and think, especially when interacting. I learnt how to do business, organise events, have effective meetings and why most meetings I have now are not so productive… Giving workshops, putting together training materials, confronting people in a constructive way, oral presentations… I can go on for a long time.

I guess if people wonder what they will get out of joining AEGEE, it’s almost impossible to get an answer. I had a similar issue when I was about to join the board of AEGEE-Enschede. “What will it bring me?” I asked myself and others a lot of times. I did not get a satisfying answer, at least not one justifying giving up more than one year of studies (which is not the case anymore these days, don’t worry [he smiles, ed.]).

In the end, I came to the conclusion that I could not rationalise my decision to join or not. So I decided to go for it, just because it seemed like a wonderful challenge. And it was! To this day, I’m still happy I chose to join the board.

Did these skills help you to find a job easily? And what is your job now?

Certainly! The skills helped my to find a job I love. I quit my job a few years ago and decided to start living off my own company (which I already had for a few years). It worked out great, hopefully I will never have to be an employee again. [he winks, ed.]

I develop software architectures and also partly build them for large and small companies. One thing I also learned in AEGEE is that IT should not be a goal; it is still a mean to make an organisation operate more efficiently. This means IT projects are a success or failure solely based on the adoption rate of the organisation’s employees or participants. Many IT companies these days are no competition for me at all because they don’t understand this seemingly simple rule. Thanks again to AEGEE!

What would you say is the biggest benefit of AEGEE for young people looking for a job?

Difficult to give one biggest benefit that is valid for every combination of persons and jobs. The one I am still profiting from is my network of business relations I got from AEGEE and also the fact that I learned how to maintain and expand it.

Lastly, do you have any advice for newbies in AEGEE?

When I look back to my years in AEGEE, I have little regrets. However, if you are a new member or thinking of becoming one, please enjoy your membership! Enjoy what AEGEE has to offer you in all its aspects. Experiment, play, don’t take everything too seriously all the time. AEGEE can be a safe haven to learn how to conduct business and interact with all kinds of people in real life. Of course there are people, money and time at stake. But, you learn a lot more from mistakes then from successes. Perhaps this advice could also apply to life after AEGEE?

This is the second article of a series of four. You can find the first one here. 

Written by Batuhan Çarıkçı, Youth Development Working Group

In the occasion of the Youth Development month, the Youth Development Working Group reached out to four AEGEE alumni and interviewed them, with the intention to connect past, present and future of AEGEE. Here’s the first interview of the series: Berat Ezel (formerly) from AEGEE-Izmir.

YDWG: Hello Berat, can you introduce yourself a bit?

Berat: I am a volunteer, youth worker and consultant on training design solutions and recently I have been working with Syrian refugees and professionals who work with disadvantaged target groups in the frame of social inclusion. Apart from these fields, I am actively working on outdoor education, entrepreneurship trainings for youngsters and women entrepreneurs living in rural areas. I live in Bodrum,Turkey.

And when did you become a member of AEGEE? How many years did you volunteer in it and what have you done during those years?

Well, I became a member of AEGEE-Izmir in 2000. I was actively involved in local and European activities until 2008. Since then I have been supporting AEGEE locals or members as alumni member. When I was an active member of AEGEE, I had many roles in the Network. I was a board member of AEGEE-Academy, SUCT, DWG, Network Commission at the European level and I was a board member of AEGEE-Izmir, organising committee member of AGORA Izmir 2005, which was awarded “best event” and I was organiser of several Summer Universities.

What does AEGEE mean for you?

AEGEE means a big network and family which can broaden your life vision and give you many opportunities, more than a young person can ever imagine.

What was the biggest thing that AEGEE brought to you?

Obviously the reason of choosing my current job career and my lifelong friends from Turkey and all over Europe. Before being a member of AEGEE, I was involved in volunteering activities but I was feeling that something was missing. Then, after meeting different people from different backgrounds from all over Europe, I realised that youth’s needs and problems are not so different in different countries. And this network motivated me to step up to extend my competences in order to be more active as citizen. On the other hand, while organising social projects and activities for youngsters, I had the chance to meet amazing people who are willing to make a positive impact in society. Some of them are my close friends and some are my colleagues now. We have a strong connection thanks to the AEGEE spirit.

Which skills did you improve most during your very active years in AEGEE?

Well not only skills, but I would rather say I had the chance to develop knowledge and attitudes in my job and life too. First of all, I had the chance to explore civil society and its power for a change in the community. Intercultural learning, conflict resolution, active citizenship, volunteering, human rights and advocacy, and designing learning activities (LTCs, European Schools) are only some of the fields I got knowledge of. Surely event management, project management, FR and PR skills, how to run an NGO, how to manage volunteers and many other skills helped me to build my career. Working in the right field, with the right target group and with the right team helped me to develop my attitude towards my job. Sharing information and gaining knowledge became the vision of my life.

Did these skills help you to find a job easily? And what is your job now?

It was NOT so easy at the beginning. Including my friends and family, nobody ever believed that I could have a good future or good life by choosing social work. When I was travelling in Europe from one event to another, they mostly thought that I was just partying and enjoying life and that’s it. Obviously, recognition of youth work at the beginning of the 2000s was not so developed as much as today. So it was not so easy to find a job to work on. On the other hand, thanks to my social and organisational skills, I had the chance to work on large scale projects of national and international foundations and institutions and this helped me to start working as freelance youth trainer. I still am a trainers’ pool member of different European youth networks. But I work as project manager in an youth and culture centre in Bodrum, Turkey.

What would you say is the biggest benefit of AEGEE for young people looking for a job?

The biggest advantage of AEGEE for a youngster is being a member of huge network/family full of opportunities. Each youngster has skills and motivation, desires but mostly they think they are alone. For a young person, playing a violin in Izmir is nice, but if you tell him/her “there is an opportunity to meet different people who play different instruments from Madrid, Athens, Krakow, Baku, Budapest, Prague, Zagreb” and he/she can come together, meet, understand each other, work together, organise a concert together with those people and invite a whole European community to that, and if you tell him/her that it is not only a music performance but promotion of solidarity, unity and a better future for new generations with no prejudices through this event, then I am sure that youngster would say “It is impossible!”. Well, it is possible..I’ve seen it with AEGEE.

Lastly, do you have any advices for the newbies in AEGEE?

I don’t know if it is advice, but I would say I am very sorry for them. Because if they are already a newbie, that means they are already infected by the AEGEE virus. It will be following them entirely. [he smiles, ed.] AEGEE is like a simulation of life, both professionally and socially, and it is also life itself. So they should enjoy it and use it and gain from it. But they shouldn’t forget to give back to AEGEE as well.

Written by Batuhan Çarıkçı, Youth Development Working Group

Their term starts today. A team of motivated people will officially begin their work on the 1st of August, and there are big expectations about them! It could be the new Comité Directeur (CD) 55 that we are talking about, indeed, but in this case we are referring to the brand new Working Groups, led by the newly elected Working Group Coordinators, namely Viola Bianchetti for Equal Rights, Álvaro González Pérez for European Citizenship, Svenja van der Tol for Youth Development, and Joanna Pankowska for Civic Education.

As most of you already know, the new Working Groups will ensure a fresh and successful start for the new Focus Areas of our three-year-long Strategic Plan.

Even though they still have not begun their term, they have already made history: they have received the highest amount of applications ever, with 62 applications for 28 spots (without counting the coordinators), and each of the teams have eight members (the maximum according to the CIA).

Furthermore, all of the Working Groups have already met via Skype several times and discussed their upcoming plans.  The coordinators have likewise met, in order to promote the team work among the WG themselves. One of the ideas that have come up from their meeting is the establishment of a unified newsletter and of Focus Area action months to take place in 2017/2018.

Before that, Working Groups will be present all around the Network during the NWMs and the Agora, and between September and October they will hold their live meetings. The Public Relations Committee of AEGEE is also working on the WG logos, in order to make them match and have common elements and show visually the level of coordination that wants to be achieved between the Working Groups.

That’s all by now. If you want to stay up-to-date with the news regarding the WGs, subscribe to our newsletter here! Rumors say that they are unstoppable!

Written by Álvaro González Pérez, AEGEE-Heidelberg and European Citizenship Working Group Coordinator

Special thanks to Stas Mahula, AEGEE-Kyїv, for the cover picture.