A New Contact in Croatia: Welcome Split to the Network!

Just a few weeks ago, Split, the second largest city in Croatia, was added to the network as a new contact. Next to AEGEE-Zagreb and AEGEE-Zadar, it is now the third part of the network in Croatia. The AEGEEan talked to founder and President Teo Šarić about the contact’s cooperations, events, and future plans.

For Teo Šarić, president of the contact, Split is more than just a random addition: “With a population of more than 200 000 people and around 25 000 university students Split has the potential to become an active and productive antenna!” Teo, who was already active in AEGEE-Zadar before, was one of the founders of the contact. Together with his board members he has been working on fulfilling their plan to become an official antenna.

By now, the contact in Split has around 25 members from all fields of studies like arts and design to IT, law and management. But of course, they want to attract even more new members. There was already one meeting in Split which was open for public and they also started a cooperation with „info-zona“, one of the biggest organisations in Dalmatia. Moreover, members of the contact were to hear via radio since they gave interviews for several radio stations. Finally, they also printed flyers to give away to interested people. In the end, their PR strategies seem to work well, especially because of the highly motivated members and their friends who are willing to help, too. „People from Split are really interested in AEGEE and I just know that in the future we will be an excellent AEGEE-antenna“, Teo says.

Another plus point for the contact is their cooperation with the rector and pro-rectors of the University of Split for which the AEGEEans are really thankful. By now, they even got their own office to work in by the student council. Also, AEGEE-Zadar cooperates with the new contact in Split, as well as some other locals from the region or even further away. Just recently, AEGEE-Amsterdam let the contact know that they were interested in an exchange.

And that is only one thing that people from Split have in mind for their upcoming time. First of all, Teo hopes to sign the Convention d’Adhésion as soon as possible to become a contact antenna. Then, there are already some ideas for local and international events to be put in motion. For sure, they will organise a Summer University (SU) next year to prove what a great culture Split has to offer. Moreover, there is already one specific idea. “Maybe we’ll organise an international event around (the 6th of) June, when it’s time for the Pride parade in Split. It will be a thematic event since the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) situation in Croatia is not great”, Teo explains.

Finally, Teo concludes: “We are very excited to contribute and to be a part of organising new, interesting and meaningful projects and events on a regional level but also on a European level.”

Written by Katja Sontag, AEGEE-Aachen