Miguel Gallardo Albajar, former Comité Directeur member, Carmen María López, former Network Commissioner, Pablo Hernández, Policy Officer and former President are just some of the names immediately crossing our mind when we think about this amazing local. Another interesting fact is that two members of AEGEE-Alicante, Jorge Sánchez Hernández and Pablo Palazón have founded new contacts in Dresden and Manchester. For all these and many more reasons, The AEGEEan tried to reveal the secrets of their success by talking to Melissa Carreres and Mar Valero, current board members, and Sora Chung, current Subcommissioner to NetCom Olga Rivero Menéndez.
The AEGEEan: Tell us something about the history of AEGEE-Alicante. When was the local founded? What makes you stand out from other antennae?
AEGEE-Alicante: It was founded in 2002, becoming an antenna in 2003. What makes us unique is that we work differently than other antennas, we are a group of friends who work in a singular way, AEGEE-Alicante is someway known for great events. As Lucius Annaeus Seneca once said: “It is quality rather than quantity that matters.”
How many active members do you have? We know many of them are active on the European level. Is it hard to motivate them to work on the local level too?
We have around 30 active members and, as you pointed out, some of them are active on the European level, too. Sometimes, it is hard to combine the local and European level, because both of them require a lot of time, but these members are motivated enough and manage to also work hard on the local level. It is a pleasure to have so many people involved on the European level because their achievements and knowledge help AEGEE-Alicante a lot to grow as an antenna.
Do you have any special activities for team building or traditional local events you want to share with Network?
Our philosophy for a good team is that it has to be formed by friends or at least by people who get along well. We are a big diverse group with lots of things in common, often proposing informal meetings and different activities just because we want to meet up. A traditional event is our symbolic Christmas dinner, which is very special for us since it is the opportunity for most of us to meet. We have some members who are living abroad and Christmas is the perfect time to come back home and the best opportunity for AEGEE-Alicante members to gather. During the last Christmas dinner, we were with almost 40 members, and it was awesome!
This is the second year you are organising the Buddy Program. Please tell us what the main aim of the project is and what the program means to your local?
We are organizing an edition every semester, and we are currently working hard on the fourth edition.The Buddy Program is a mentorship program whose aim is to provide support to international students by pairing them with local students, who help them to settle in during their stay in Alicante. The program is offered to all students, not only to AEGEE members. The University of Alicante collaborates with us, contacting and offering the program to all the international students. At the beginning, we only had a small group of 25 internationals but during the last edition we managed to have 260 matches. The Buddy Program has brought lots of benefits to our antenna, such as gaining more visibility and improving the institutional relationships with the university. Besides that, some of the local students have become members of AEGEE-Alicante and what is more important; we acquired loads of experience and knowledge by working on the program.
First of all, congratulations for the 2nd best Summer University of 2014. Can you tell us something about that experience? What are your plans for the next SU?
Mar Valero: Personally, it was one the most amazing experiences of my life. I was very enthusiastic about the project, all thanks to Rocío Calvente, the Incoming Responsible and with motivation, hard-work and a team willing to do it, the results show that we did not do it that bad, right? For the next Summer University, we would like “newbies” to take over. We think it is a good opportunity for them to learn about the organisational part, but the most experienced members will be helping for sure!
AEGEE-Alicante is famous for its creating awareness for charities. On the Human Rights Day and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women you shared pictures on social media. Do you have any more ideas for raising awareness of similar issues on the European level?
Last November we participated in a cycling meeting to defend the fights against climate change and the poles melting. We also participated in a blood donation marathon that was held by the University of Alicante. Furthermore, AEGEE-Alicante is going to donate 20% of the sales of their promotional t-shirts to beneficial projects. Our first donation was 50€ for the Election Observation Project of Moldova. We really love doing this kind of activities; you get more than you give. We try to collaborate by means of small contributions. And sometimes we say: Make others change by your example!
We would also like to know about the future plans of the current board. Can you tell us more about them?
We are in contact with AEGEE-Nijmegen and AEGEE-Eindhoven to organise exchange meetings and we would like to do it with both of them at the same time, it would be great! We are also planning to do an activity related to the Buddy Program as we did in the last term. It is going to be similar to the cultural exchange between local and international people.
Active and motivated members of AEGEE-Alicante have the power to inspire not only their own antenna but the whole Network to work harder. Their secret is immanent in L. A. Seneca’s wise words: “It is quality rather than quantity that matters.”
Written by Ivana Mijanac, AEGEE-Beograd