NetCom Times: Introducing the new NetCom!

During Autumn Agora Cagliari six new members of the NetCom were elected, namely: Andrea Schmelz (AEGEE-Passau), Boudewijn Steenhof (AEGEE-Leiden), Mario Galea (AEGEE-Valletta), Marta Wnuk (AEGEE-Warszawa), Olga Rivero (AEGEE-Oviedo) and Tekla Hajdu (AEGEE-Budapest). The AEGEEan spoke to them to find out more about these new members and their plans for the upcoming months.

Andrea Schmelz (AEGEE-Passau)

Why did you apply to be NetCom?

I have been already thinking about it since I organized Network Meeting (NWM) Passau. I saw how much a Netcom can help locals by simply listening and talking to them. I love to see the effects of connecting people and the Netcom is the perfect place to facilitate this. In my position it is not about me making an impact, but about supporting the locals to do that. And that is a very rewarding job.

 What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?

My face was completely red, because of the excitement in the plenary, the hours to wait for the election results and the lack of air in the plenary room. So when the results were out, I was just happy to be elected, sign the contract and get some fresh air and food.

What are your plans for the locals in your area?

First, I would like to help those who need support to flourish again and encourage those who do well to organize more thematic European events. Next to that I very much encourage the Netcom Projects such as Twin Antenna and Mentoring Antenna. It is so great to have a second home base in AEGEE. It would be also nice to see some new contacts, maybe we can fill in some blanks on the map?

What are your plans for the NetCom team?

After the Netcom Meeting in Brussels, I feel like I have thousands of plans and ideas! I mainly want to work on revising the way we work with new contacts. I learned a lot about this last year and it is not only about giving the contacts an idea of how to become part of AEGEE, but also about supporting the respective Netcom in his or her work with the contacts.

What are the nicknames for your area and team?

We don’t have any nicknames, but with Maastricht on board I try to infiltrate slowly the name AEGezelligkeit (geselligkeit/gezelligheid are the German and Dutch word for cosiness, a good atmosphere with other people ed.), a concept well-known to Germans and Dutchies. I’ll see how persuasive I am; I know I have skeptics around me (she laughs).

What is something that most AEGEEans wouldn’t know about you?

I hate orange juice with pulp. When I discovered pulp as a 4-year-old kid in kindergarten, I thought they look like grubs and I stopped drinking orange juice for 12 years. I started to drink it again, but I am always quite happy when I see the cheap, pulp-free juice packages at AEGEE events.

Boudewijn Steenhof (AEGEE-Leiden)

Why did you apply to be NetCom?
Running for NetCom had been on my mind for probably a year before I applied. Right after I returned from living in Australia half a year, a spot opened but I didn’t run and I was in doubt again for this position at Agora Cagliari. The step to candidate almost seemed too great… This all changed probably three or four weeks before the Agora, when I came in contact with a few board members from locals in the area. Talking to them and listening to their stories about their locals made me realise I had a few ideas on how to improve and sustain the network and I would love to talk to them and discuss strategies with them for the future of their locals. This, together with a few of my friends telling me I would probably regret it if I didn’t candidate, made me send in my candidature still, although the Agora was only a week away.
What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?
It was very nerveracking, since I wasn’t actually present at Agora Cagliari to present my candidature and be there for the results. And when the livestream stalled at exactly the wrong moment, my stress was complete. However, luckily my friends from AEGEE-Leiden kept me up to date about everything via whatsapp, and I may have screamed when I heard the good news!
What are your plans for the locals in your area?
I am planning on categorising them to be able to communicate and help them as efficiently as possible. Also, there’s a few projects going on with (possible) new contacts, so that is very exciting as well. Finally, I want to strengthen cooperation and maybe implement some interesting NetCom projects!
What are your plans for the NetCom team?
I am already working quite well in the team; exactly today we’ve implemented all our plans for the work plans and actively started to work on them. I am very excited about this! There are a couple of things internally I want to pick up, and you will be able to see our external plans in our work plan.
What are the nicknames for your area and team?
Our area is called “Nedertop”, which refers to the Low Countries and that they are awesome (I guess). Which they are obviously. Internally we don’t really have a nickname.. If you must know, I am not very creative with these things. Suggestions can always be sent to my email address of course!
What is something that most AEGEEans wouldn’t know about you?
I have been working in the field of education since 2011, and I am absolutely loving it. You could say that teaching is my passion, and I am lucky enough to have turned my passion into a paying job. Great, right?

Marta Wnuk (AEGEE-Warszawa)

Why did you apply to be NetCom?

I was driven by a huge sense of responsibility towards my network and great care for the people that are part of it. I was a SubCommie the previous year, so I gota  very valuable perspective that allowed me to get to know the functioning of the locals quite well and provided me with a good starting-point experience. I knew Polish-speaking locals needed a good NetCommie and since I was approached by many asking me if I would run for the post, I decided to take up the challenge.

What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?

It was a combination of relieve and happiness. Relieve because the closing ceremony was considerably delayed and I was waiting for the results quite intensively. Happiness because I achieved my dream goal and didn’t let down the trust of many who supported my candidature.

What are your plans for the locals in your area?

One of my priorities are Local Training Courses (LTC). Among Polish-speaking locals these are already well-established and bringing good results using the common format of LTC: a whole-weekend training based on workshops, case-study system and integration of new members. I would like to make sure that its implementation in every local is right and raise its quality even more as successful LTCs are one of the key elements of running a local. My next priority is setting up good communication within my area that is aimed at knowledge transfer, exchange of experiences and good practices. Ideally, weaker locals should learn from stronger ones and SubCommies, who are my team of experts in specific fields, are there to help them. Thirdly, the organization of NWM Warszawa is very important and a lot of work will be focused to create the best content for the event.

What are your plans for the NetCom team?

It’s very important for the NetCom to fulfill its work plan for the current term. I want to contribute to developing the set of common topics of NWMs and finishing the Toolkit for Boards. I would also like to be involved in the process of creating a Non-Disclosure Agreement  for SubCommies and support the CD with their initiative regarding LTCs.

What are the nicknames for your area and team?

This would be a quite boring answer as there is not any official name of my area. There is only a name that works as a bit sarcastic inside joke that is not specially worth of translating here. As for my SubCom team I simply call them what they are – the best team ever!

What is something that most AEGEEans wouldn’t know about you?

It’s pretty known that I live in Warsaw and before that I lived in Poznań. However, I don’t think that any one knows that I actually grew up in a very little village in North-West Poland. I’m really proud of this fact and I would never change it for a childhood in a big city. It gave me wonderful memories and shaped my character positively I think.

Olga Rivero (AEGEE-Oviedo)

Why did you apply to be NetCom?

Ever since I became interested in the thematic bodies of AEGEE and started going to statutory events, I knew that the role of a Network Commissioner was the most inspiring and suitable for me. That’s why I decided to take the first step by becoming SubCommissioner of Pauline Létard, and later of NetCom Assistant Carmen María López. As I could prove during all those months, I wasn’t wrong about my perception of a NetCommie, and since my motivation kept growing and growing and I felt more confident and prepared everyday, I asked myself: why not run for such a position?

What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?

As there was another member candidating for my same area, I remember feeling a burst of motivation and gratefulness at the same time, while I thought I was in a dream. 2014 was the year in which I reached the goals I had had for some time in AEGEE, no doubt about it!

What are your plans for the locals in your area?

My team and I are working a lot on getting closer to each local. We want to gain their trust and make them feel that we are present in their daily life, so if there’s something going wrong they don’t hesitate to share it with us. We want to be a proactive team towards the locals we are in charge of because we think that is the basic step to take before implementing new ideas or developing new strategies. We are also working hard on creating common strategies for locals that have the same weaknesses, such us FR, HR… And, of course, offering our help for the organization of the next two statutory events, EPM Burgos and AgorAsturias!

What are your plans for the NetCom team?

My NetCom colleagues and I are working in close cooperation on developing some new ideas we had at the start of this new term, which in some cases involves improving some of the things that already exist.

What are the nicknames for your area and team?

The nickname for my area is La Nave, and my team is informally called La Tripulación. From what I know, the name of La Nave was born some years ago (I wasn’t a member yet), when the mailing list we use for communicating in the area was called subealanave (which would be translated as “get on board in our spaceship”). The name was a joke that was raised from the fact that all of the non-AEGEE people saw us a bit like a sect, like there were some aliens that were going to come to look for us to get on board on their spaceship. It eventually developed to calling our Facebook group and our area La Nave (“the spaceship”) in an informal way, and the NetCom team of the area got to be known as La Tripulación (“the crew”), as if they were the ones that drove the spaceship. There’s even a kind of structure in Santander that looks like a spaceship where every AEGEEan from the area takes pictures with.

What is something that most AEGEEans wouldn’t know about you?

I’m a biotechnologist specialized in Microbiology that was born in Oviedo (north of Spain) 23 years ago. I lived there until one year ago, when I moved to Madrid to finish my studies and where I will start my PhD soon. I love music (I have played the piano for almost my whole life), traveling (big news, I guess!), TV series (I’m a big fan of Breaking Bad, Friends and Modern Family) and movies (thumbs up if you have watched all Woody Allen movies like me).

Tekla Hajdu (AEGEE-Budapest)

Why did you apply to be NetCom?

I applied as a NetCom, because I was in close contact with Brigitta Puskas (AEGEE-Budapest), the previous NetCom Assistant, and I got inspiration from seeing her work with her antennae. I was always the kind of person who is not afraid of bigger tasks, so I decided why not go for it? Also, I got a lot of support from Brigitta, from my board and from older members from Budapest as well, and when I met with the previous NetCom team in person, I was sure that I wanted to belong to the Network Commission too.

What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected as NetCom?

I was very delighted, because I was the last one to apply amongst the candidates (the “dark horse”), and I was afraid that I wouldn’t get elected. It was definitely amongst my remarkable happy moments in AEGEE [she smiles, ed.].

What are your plans for the locals in your area?

First of all, I want to strengthen the area, because in the previous years, it has been very fragmented, and now it is the time to have someone to whom they can turn to. I want to strengthen the cooperation between them, and to help them out as much as possible. In the long run, I want to promote the Twin Antenna project to my locals, and I would also like to implement the Mentorship System in the area. So far I have been welcomed with open arms, so I have high hopes for my long-term plans.

What are your plans for the NetCom team?

In the NetCom team, I would like to be an active and useful member. I wish to concentrate on the content of Network Meetings, the tasks of SubCommissioners, and the process of accepting Contacts.

What are the nicknames for your area and team?

I did not really hear of a nickname for my region so far. Usually, I call it Middle European Area or Central European Area, because I have antennae from five different countries from Central –Eastern Europe – but I’ll ask my SubCommies if they have any ideas!

What is something that most AEGEEans wouldn’t know about you?

I am actually a “horsey girl” – I have been riding for more than 6 years, and when I was in high school, I used to go to competitions as well. Since I started university, I only occasionally have the chance to ride, but my love for horses will never change.

You can find Network Commission Working Plan for the current term (Agora Cagliari-Agora Oviedo) here.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen