ESTIEM

lx council meeting - REMOTE EDITION

Not to have ESTIEMers travel in those risky times we opted for a Remote Council Meeting.
The council meeting will be in full swing today.
Who applies for what? And what about the reports? And the streaming? This and more can be found in this page.

The streaming

The minutes from LIX Council Meeting

How will we do it?

Zoom

The digital General Assembly will take place live on Zoom, here we will have delegates, applicants, boardies, secretaries, voting committee, and more figures needed to make the assembly run smoothly.

electionbuddy

This voting software will substitute the usual pen and paper we deal with in usual Council Meetings. Each LG will have to choose one delegate to be the voting responsible, communicate that choise to us, and we will email this person the links to cast the vote following the Instant Run-off system.

What about the streaming?

The streaming will be held on YouTube! Aysenure will take care of bringing your question from the streaming into the call to be answered live. All questions in the live stream will be saved so that also those for which we had no time will receive an answer during breaks or after the Council Meeting.

Reports

Watch the reports..

All our entities recorded video reports to save up time in the General Assembly, watch them all at the playlist we prepared for you! Click on the YouTube icon above to start binge-watching!

..and ask questions!

Click on the icon above to join ESTIEM's Discord server, where you can see all the reports and ask questions! Remember to accept our privacy policy in the "welcome" channel to access the contents!

Stay updated, too!

Given the quickly-evolving situation, we created a Telegram channel to share last-minute updates with everyone, join by clicking on the icon above!

What will be voted upon?

ESTIEMers can apply to...

Local Groups can apply to...

  • be the leader of Lean Six Sigma
  • be the leader of Global Student Challenge
  • be the leader of Academic Days
  • be the leader of IEM Connection
  • be the leader of ESTIEM Language Programme
  • be the leader of Europe3D
  • be the leader of Local Group Exchanges
  • be the leader of Activity Weeks
  • be the leader of TIMES
  • be the leader of businessbooster
  • be the leader of Be X for X Days
  • be the leader of Industry Hubs
  • be the leader of Summer Academy
  • be the leader of BrainTrainer 
  • be the leader of ESTIEM Magazine
  • to start a new project
  • to be a Financial Controller
  • President of ESTIEM
  • Vice President of Activities
  • Vice President of Administration
  • Vice President of Education
  • Vice President of Finance
  • Vice President of Public Relations
  • host Spring Council Meeting 2021
  • host TIMES Final 2021
  • become Observers (Guest Groups)
  • become Members (Observers)

Other Votes

  • To be determined

The applications so far!

Board

Fellow ESTIEMers,

Upon deciding to study IEM, an alumnus who is an old family friend, introduced me for the first time to the network. A huge European family. Today, after more than 20 events, a lot of friendships made and a great number of hours working for this amazing network, I would like to share with you my vision for the upcoming years.

My name is Luis Viudez, I’m from LG Seville and it is my honour to apply for the position of President of the 31st Board of ESTIEM.

I started my journey being a motivated newbie that didn’t lose any opportunity to join other ESTIEMers, participate in events or spend hours listening to many different stories. In my second year, I joined the Corporate Relations Committee which gave me full awareness of ESTIEM’s strengths and what we have to offer, as well as the capacity to work under pressure. Since then, I can say I have dedicated almost all of my time to the network, joining the Trainers Community and delivering more than 60 hours of training sessions, helping with the creation of the KPI’s for the Local Group Support System and becoming Regional Coordinator of the South West Region. This last experience gave me the chance to be involved in the monitoring of LGs, first-line access to the core of the network – our members – and knowledge on what it takes to connect Central with them.

I envision ESTIEM as the highest QUALITY student network in Europe through our students, our departments, the active and fresh environment our teams offer and by connecting the present and future of IEM in Europe. This means investing in our Local Groups and bridging the potential to create a good outcome as it will enable us to show all our stakeholders the impressive added value we provide for the personal and professional development of the students.

A good team will perform better than any amount of individuals” and I can assure you it is the mindset I would carry throughout my mandate. That is why if elected, I’ll invest in my co-boardies, leaders and Local Groups. By having this as a priority focus, we’ll clearly set the path to improve our quality and achieve everything proposed, not as separate entities, but together as a FAMILY.

This leads me to the following goals:

  • Analyse the membership situation after COVID-19 and strive for the retainment and support of all LGs.
  • Financial stability of ESTIEM by fundraising in cooperation with our internal stakeholders and execution of a different CR approach.
  • Expanding the range of connections with other organisations, companies, and individuals outside of ESTIEM to increase the value provided by the network.
  • Implementing and assessing the results of the 18-21 Strategy to allow the creation of the best possible next ESTIEM Strategy.
  • Boosting a transparent mentality not only within the Board and Leaders but with every ESTIEMer.

I would be more than happy to hear your thoughts and answer any of the questions you might have! You can approach me anytime by email (luis.viudez@estiem.org).

In High ESTIEM,

Luis Viudez

Dear ESTIEMers,

I am Marc Johannsmann aka Uwe from LG Berlin, a 21-year old IEM student, and I don’t have any spectacular story why I joined my LG at the beginning of October 2017, except they provided all newbies with a lot of free beer. After my first event, where I got to know what ESTIEM and its spirit is, I further wanted to be more involved in this European network. Throughout time, ESTIEM went from being the network to drink beer to the motivator in every aspect of my life, such as studies, sports, leadership, professional growth, language skills and some more. It is with this in mind together with the experience I already gained that I want to make sure that the feeling of being a united Europe and its unique Spirit for all IEM students will be spread out for many more years!

Therefore, I am super proud to present to you my application for the position of Vice President of Activities of the 31st Board of ESTIEM.

I guess the first question in your mind now is why should I vote for this guy?

To start somewhere, being Local Responsible of Local Group Berlin allowed me to learn a lot about how Local Groups are working, what are all the needs and the execution of events. Furthermore, I extended my knowledge while having the position of North East Regional Coordinator. I accessed many different fields in ESTIEM, on how to further strengthen the organization itself, especially the Local Groups. The most crucial one for me was being part of the Local Group Support System, where I could see the bigger picture of the network. Besides that, I attended more than 15 events and had the opportunity to deliver various training across Europe, completing 25 hours as a trainer. Moreover, by being part of different working sessions, I could share my knowledge, ideas and my aspirations to where I would see ESTIEM in the following year. 

Finally, with all these points and experience taken into consideration, I see myself ready for the next bigger step.

If elected, I want to dedicate my time upon the following goals:

Goals, I want to focus on personally:  

  • Giving the direction to work on a better “Regional Alignment” in terms of events, spirit, LG mentoring, working environment & benchmarking on common problems
  • Make the Social and Environmental Responsibility visible for LGs in order to raise the awareness of the importance of the topic for events, the LGs and other initiatives
  • Have a good time with my Co-Boardie’s (Individual Fitness Plan (IFP) & Usage of Untappd)

Goals, related to the Position as Vice President of Activities:

  • Implement an Event Application System, which enables to manage the event portfolio and its distribution throughout the different layers of ESTIEM 
  • Working on and implementing the Event Quality Strategy (to give leaders better understanding of their event quality in events)
  • Tracking and encourage the ESTIEM Spirit in events and motivate people to live and spread it
  • Invest time to research online activities to connect ESTIEMers outside of the events

 Goals, I want to achieve together with my board members:

  • Evaluating the need to change the LG Requirements due to COVID-19 and support the members in the best way possible
  • Implementing and assessing the 3-year strategy made by the 28th Board, in order to continue with the best possible strategy in the future

And yes, if you have any questions, ideas or suggestions, feel free to approach me anytime, with any devices you may have! (via marc.johannsmann@estiem.org)

In High ESTIEM,

Marc 

“The magic will happen eventually” – Summer Academy’18

This sentence changed my life in the best way which I could never have imagined.

In the middle of the forest, on the first day of the Summer Academy Zagreb, we were sitting together and sharing our life experiences even without knowing each other. There was a girl; who was shy to share, but curious to learn and grow. Now, that girl is willing to share her dream with you, as she found the missing part of the puzzle. She found the magic in ESTIEM.

Dear ESTIEMers, 

My name is Elif Nur Akyıldırım, I’m a 22-year-old student, and it is my greatest honour to present my application for Vice President of Administration of the 31st board of ESTIEM.

My ESTIEM journey started in 2017, on the local level. After 3 inspiring months, I had an intuition that showed me I was ready to contribute more to ESTIEM. My initial motivation to be active in central came from representing my Local Group at the Council Meeting Karlsruhe. Since then, I became the IT Responsible in HRC, and a member of the IT Committee. After I gained more information about IT in ESTIEM, I realized that I want to learn more in this area. That motivated me to start working in a technology company where I was a business analyst. After 6 months of dedication, I became a Project Manager of the infrastructure teams and their projects which includes; the network, database, and Development & Operations Systems of the company. I am responsible for the internal communication in our team, therefore making me the bridge between stakeholders and my team to ensure that communication and collaboration are active and coherent to improve decision-making processes.

Becoming active in the Knowledge Facilitation Committee, helps me to understand the importance of Elium which guides us to being transparent and sharing knowledge in ESTIEM. After being active in Analysis and Knowledge Facilitation Committees, I wanted to take one big step in ESTIEM which is the position that I’m holding now, the leadership position of the Analysis Committee. As a committee leader in ESTIEM, I had the chance to learn deeply about ESTIEM and other entities while collaborating with them. These experiences gave me a high-level perspective on the potential we have in our network.

With this perspective and experience, my goals for the mandate are:

  • Analyse the situation after COVID-19 to create an action plan for the Council Meeting, online reporting and voting systems. 
  • Refine and widen the internal communication and collaboration between entities and ESTIEMers by increasing the usage of communication platforms.
  • Analyse the most recent implementations regarding the IT infrastructure while evaluating the current necessities of the network to define future steps.
  • Ensuring ESTIEM respects users’ privacy and data by abiding the Privacy Policy while raising awareness between ESTIEMers.
  • Create a plan for Knowledge Management in ESTIEM to transfer the knowledge onto the next generations for making it more feasible.

I wish at the end of my mandate as VP of Administration, I will gather all parts of the puzzle and have an amazing picture.. If you have any questions regarding my application, feel free to approach me via mail (elif.nur.akyildirim@estiem.org

In high ESTIEM,

Elif Akyıldırım

Sitting in a classroom full of people and seeing a guy run inside with a suitcase. Hearing him speak as he went, talking about how all IEM students of Europe can be connected, learn together and create value for each other, while having fun and making life-long friendships. This was how I first met ESTIEM, and this single moment 4 years ago changed myself completely into the person that is writing this today.

Dear ESTIEMers,

My name is Maria Serodio (also known as Nezy), I’m a 21 years old IEM student from Porto and it is with great honour that I present you my application for Vice President of Education for the 31st Board of ESTIEM.

My journey in ESTIEM started quite early since I joined the network as soon as I enrolled in University. However, it was during the first event I organized, Academic Days in Porto, that I realised this is the world I want to belong to. Since then my motivation and desire to learn and be involved grew exponentially. I became Local Responsible of Porto, handled ESTIEM’s recruitment in the Human Resources Committee and started my journey as a Trainer, having now delivered more than 70 hours of sessions.

I also felt first hand the impact ESTIEM can have on our Education when I became a Lean Six Sigma instructor and started having strategic discussions with my Professors on how to improve our IEM curricula. My interest also led me into assuming the position of Academic Department Coordinator, together with the leadership of Academic Days and the Global Student Challenge. By being in contact with all these teams and by taking an active role in the innovation within ESTIEM,  I developed a very strong connection to this area and a desire to improve it further.

All these experiences, combined with an attendance of over 20 events, culminated in a vast overview of the network, of the value we offer to our students, and the direction we are taking at the moment. Which is why I can confidently say ESTIEM must aim higher, providing value not only as a connector but as a shaper of IEM in Europe, creating an impact on our education, together with all ESTIEMers and IEM students. To pursue this, I defined the following goals:

  • Focus on improving ESTIEM’s credibility by raising the quality of our services through increased collaboration with external recognised parties
  • Empower people in the Educational area, by providing opportunities to share their voice, and by increasing transparency and involvement in european projects
  • Improve ESTIEM’s understanding of IEM through data collection, analysis and expression
  • Bring the focus of  professional development to the position of VP of Education

Thank you for your attention and don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any doubts or questions, either by email to Maria.Serodio@estiem.org.

In High ESTIEM,

Maria Serodio

Dear ESTIEMers,

I am Merve Aksoy, currently a senior student at Bogazici University, and it is my greatest honour to present my application for Vice President of Finance of the 31st board of ESTIEM.

Upon joining my Local Group in 2016, I took an active part in Corporate Relations (CR) in my mother organization and represented ESTIEM to companies. This challenging task motivated me to hold the position of Finance Director. Working on Corporate Relations inspired me to learn more about the fields that influence this area. This is why I have taken up the challenge for a year of being a Marketing and Customer Engagement Trainee at GlaxoSmithKline Emerging Markets where I mainly worked as a project manager of our new platform and also for the creation & execution of the communication plan for all GSK Global marketeers. This was an experience that has not only developed my ability to think strategically but that has also taught me all about the external perception of product offering and adequate value proposition. 

I have been active in Central ESTIEM for 4 years now and since then I have lots of great memories and built lifelong friendships. Knowing that ESTIEM’s biggest value is the Local Groups, I joined Members Committee, the entity that I have been leading since August 2019 and that I very happily will continue leading till the end of my mandate. I am also a Trainer in ESTIEM and since November 2019 I delivered more than 60 hours. Over 25 events, a leadership experience, countless strategic meetings, 5 Council Meetings later, I have a deep awareness about how ESTIEM works and which problems are reoccurring and affecting our network the most. 

Specifically, this year, by joining the Financial Stability Team, I gained further insights about Local Groups and their CR Strategies, different ways of fundraising with third parties, the long-term impact of sustainable finances and ESTIEM’s current long term strategy. I am planning to continue this effort during my board year. As VP of Finance, my vision is to use our values and strengths to assess how we are being perceived for the improvement of ESTIEM’s Financial Stability Goal. 

With all that in mind, I am highly motivated to dedicate one full year to the most strategic layer of ESTIEM and to bring my experience in by taking an active role in the development of ESTIEM’s public image to increase our success in both fundraising and establishing mutually beneficial partnerships as well as to find new ways to use the ESTIEM Spirit and Culture to our advantage. With this being said, my goals for the mandate are:

Strengthen Corporate Relations and Finances by 

  • Discovering all the possibilities and consequences we may have after the COVID-19 outbreak for our Corporate Relations;
  • Creating an Emergency Action Plan to counteract financial losses, which might occur due to the current worldwide crisis;
  • Developing a clear Corporate Marketing Strategy at the beginning of my mandate with an alignment on CR & PR approach in ESTIEM to include all fields of Market Research and Customer Engagement.

Refine the processes in ESTIEM for future generations by

  • Continue assessing the feasibility of ESTIEM Grant’s Application with the team;
  • Evaluating the possibility of having Legal Officers and their connection with Financial Controllers;
  • Fostering a work environment of collaboration and communication between central entities and ESTIEMers;
  • Creating a transparent environment for ESTIEM’s Financial situation by having an online budget tool to pass Financial Knowledge to all Local Groups.

You can find more details about my professional background on my LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/merveakssoy) account. If you have any questions regarding my application, I would be happy to hear from you via mail (Merve.aksoy@estiem.org).

In High ESTIEM, 

Merve Aksoy

About 3 years ago, as a shy, insecure student, I had my very first contact with ESTIEM, without any clue that it was the beginning of a life-changing experience. That is when I finally went down the path on becoming the person I am today, thanks to this amazing network. All the great memories and time spent working with you guys, well, it makes me really happy. If I could have had a really…just a big big big family, I would have wanted you – ESTIEM.

Dear ESTIEMers,
Thank you for letting me have the honour of being part of the team and a friend of yours. My name is Trajko Krstić, I am from Local Group Belgrade and with great excitement, I present to you my application for Vice President of Public Relations for the 31st Board of ESTIEM.

After just a few days as an ESTIEMer, I already knew how everything would end. Me, being totally hooked on every single little thing that is happening in ESTIEM, every event, project, anecdote and legend and even though I did not understand totally what was going on there, I could not resist it. Grabbing every possible opportunity to work and meet new people, I finished the year as the most active member in my Local Group. The tale repeated itself the following year as well, but this time I tried to focus more on the strategic part and personal projects as a Committee leader in my Local Group and also on Central ESTIEM.

I joined the ESTIEM Magazine as a design member since it attracted me the most and I am still enjoying being part of that team, but now from the position of the Design Task Group Leader. So, all the new things, meeting people from entire Europe, learning about new cultures, working in so many different ways (same as having fun),  allowed my motivation to escalate super quickly. After getting closer to other Local Groups in the region, I found myself interested in the development of Local Groups together with my fellow neighbours, which led me to the position I am currently responsible for, the Balkan Regional Coordinator. From the position I had the opportunity to connect more with other entities, leaders as well as with external student NGOs partners, through collaboration on strategic events, which helped me to have a bigger picture of our network. Being part of the superhero team in the Public Relations Committee gave me more insights into our public image and the way we communicate with our stakeholders. As a Public Relations Material Responsible, I am updating old materials and bringing new ones to ESTIEM, while also helping others with promotion stuff and taking part of “From Zero to Hero” programme. Most of the time I invested in a project that is still in progress – updating Corporate Image Guidelines.

After all the time invested in the development of ESTIEM, I am more than happy to boost my motivation and energy for one more fully dedicated year to our network. With the ESTIEM Spirit in my heart, great passion and motivation for working together with co-boardies to achieve great things for this network while aiming high, I set the following goals:

  • Creation of clear guidance for defining and understanding Public relations in ESTIEM by:
    • Conducting deep research on previous years and studying the role of Public Relations in NGOs, and other external entities;
    • Exploring new opportunities and projects inside the field and the position that in the end can grow into new insights gained for ESTIEM – handbook;
    • Having a clear frame on how the position of Vice President of Public Relations connects with stakeholders (NGOs, Alumni, Companies, external European events, etc.).
  • Developing and maintaining the public image of ESTIEM by:
    • Analyzing how ESTIEM is currently perceived within its stakeholders with the support of the ESTIEM Alumni and the development of new projects and surveys;
    • Reviewing how we are communicating and approaching external stakeholders to increase our recognition and potentiating our brand;
    • Creating an ESTIEM Brand Book that will establish brand identities and impact of each service, values and working culture as a concrete deliverable material when communicating with stakeholders;
    • Implementing and promoting amongst our entities new ideas to expand the name and reputation of ESTIEM via media, press and blog opportunities.
  • Ensuring a good collaboration and communication within all the Public and External relations related entities , to increase the marketing of our activities and values and to grow further as a network, having into consideration the post COVID-19 evaluation of ESTIEM.

So, you keep practising your dance moves until we finally meet at some event, and do not hesitate to approach me with any thoughts or questions you have! You can text me anytime on email (trajko.krstic@estiem.org), or just ring the bell on Instagram (@trajce_).

In High ESTIEM,
Trajko Krstić.

Events

Fellow ESTIMers,

We hope these words find you safe and in good health.

Never before have we thought to experience social isolation, until the day we crossed paths with this pandemic. Uncertain paths have come upon us, with each day a growing desire to be again the nomadic ESTIEMers that once lived within us.

The time will come to turn this page and bring this network back to its full power. Holding this purpose as a mission, we hereby announce our application for spring Council Meeting 2021.

Why now? You ask. Let us tell you a short story to start.

Once upon a time in 1993 was born the LG Porto. Little blue creatures they are, eating francesinha at breakfast, lunch and dinner, singing Imaculada waking up at dawn still drunk. Some people even believe finos run in their veins, others that they possess magic potions called Portowine and when they pop the cork of one, its holder casts a spell on everyone surrounding. Since they exist ESTIEM has witnessed their people always aiming high, pushing it further and embracing challenges with their hearts… and livers too. It was 2006 when they hosted their first CM, then happened CM Porto 2010 and 2016. Four years followed, new creatures joined the family dreaming sleeplessly about organizing this event once more. Now the time has arrived and with big guts and balls they want to sky high hardcore.

The End. Today, AGE.i.FEUP | LG Porto is composed of 70 highly motivated members that view themselves as a “A Generation in the Making”. The events organized throughout the last years have given us project management experience, enabling us to always strive for the quality of our participants’ experience and our organizational team learning process. In addition, not only have we strengthened our structure in order to undertake harder challenges, but also to find financial stability. Therefore, before announcing our final decision to the network, the viability of this project has been of our utmost attention. We are now certain this is a safe step to take.

However, history doesn’t repeat itself only with the will of those who wish for it. We have ensured our stakeholders share the same enthusiasm, in order to make this happen, even with the difficulties that await us.

“No Porto No Party” – The motto that we live for and the spirit we want every ESTIEMer to live by during one amazing week. Combining its kind atmosphere and the great weather, the city of Porto will certainly make you desire to come back. The CM of a lifetime would surely happen here, where you could work on the development of the network and at the same time have fun creating memories and everlasting friendships. In the end, that’s what ESTIEM is all about.

If you have any questions, feel free to approach us through our social media pages (www.facebook.com/estiemlgporto/ https://www.instagram.com/estiem_lgporto) or our Local Responsible.

Cheers & Beers,

Local Group Porto

Dear fellow ESTIEMers,

LG Lyon was born in 2004  it has had his ups and downs. But today it has reached more than 40 members, has highly increased its number of events and acquired organisational skills. In other words, the LG is more motivated than ever and is willing to go to the extra miles.This is why we are proud to announce our candidature for the TIMES final!

Organizing the TIMES semifinals is part of our tradition. From 2016 to 2019, it has been organized several times in our beautiful city. Although this tradition has been broken this year, the new board is super motivated and wants to go a step further by taking on the challenge of organising the final. It is the 4th time that LG Lyon applies to organize this major event, and we are confident that this year will be the one. Indeed, after a real development of the LG in the last few years, we believe that we can move forward and are convinced that this event is the right one to do so.

As you may know, we already had an important ongoing project that represented a big step for the LG: the IEM conference. This was a completely new challenge for our Local Group, that would have made everyone discover ESTIEM and its opportunities, develop skills and knowledge and reinforce the relationships between our LG, universities and companies. Unfortunately, due to the COVID crisis and after surveying companies, we regretfully had to cancel the event. However, the possibility of organizing the final of a such prestigious and challenging event, immediately seemed like the perfect “alternative”. Indeed, we found in this event all that we were searching: development of skills and knowledge, improvement of the relations between companies and IEM students and challenge.

Moreover, trusting our LG to host this event would allow the finalists to discover the beautiful town that is Lyon. The city centre and the view from the Fourviere hill are worth it. They will also taste our delicious baguettes, cheese and wine.

Finally, this event is just the perfect opportunity to grow at all levels: motivation, corporate  relationships, personal and professional skills, and to see our LG stepping up! Whether it is the members, the board or the university, we are all highly motivated and ready to get involved!

Cheers from France,

Hope to see you as soon as possible,

LG Lyon

Departments

Academic Development

Dear ESTIEMers, 

My name is Anna Anchipolevskaia, I’m a 20-year-old student, 3-year ESTIEMer from LG Saint Petersburg. When I first entered ESTIEM, I was shocked by the energy, atmosphere and the spirit that it gives. Now, 3 years later, I just can’t imagine my life without ESTIEM. 

What have I done for these 3 years? 

I was an organizer of 10+ events on local level, was a projects leader of Exchange: Lyon visits Saint Petersburg, was a part of local board as a Secretary, participated in 9 foreign events and was active on central level in Industry Hubs and Academic Days teams as a Knowledge Management Responsible since last autumn. 

Why did I decide to apply? 

Since I entered ESTIEM I’ve always wanted to participate in Academic Days, but it was organized quite rare, so my dream came true only in autumn of 2019. After participating in Academic Days which took place in Aveiro I was really motivated to start working in the entity to help it develop. Because what I saw that the project was quite forgotten and had not the best time, so I decided to help central team to develop it. Since that time, we as a team have made a lot of steps to make it better but there’re still many things to do. 

What are my ideas about Academic Days? 

  • Increase awareness among local groups and encourage them to organize more events
  • Share the knowledge from previous Academic Days events with the whole ESTIEM
  • Focus more on non-IEM academic topics
  • Create a database of topics
  • Continue the realization of certificates for participants 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in What’s App, Telegram or via email.

My contacts:  Anna.Anchipolevskaia@estiem.org

In high ESTIEM, 

Anna Anchipolevskaia.

Dear ESTIEMers,

My name is Joana Vaz and I’m from LG Lisbon. My journey began shortly after I started university and a few months later I participated in my first event. The spirit motivated me and from that moment I knew that I wanted to belong and contribute to ESTIEM.

CM Famagusta was definitely an eye-opening event for me, where I truly realized the great impact one’s work can have on the network. Seeing all the leaders present on stage made me dream that I could also be there one day and inspired me to learn more and get more involved in ESTIEM’s work .

I was part of the Global Student Challenge team, which has given me a good overview of team dynamics, and taught me how to have a clear communication inside the team. I focused on analysing participants’ performances in order to enrich their experiences so as to improve the support given. I am also part of the Professional Development Committee, where I am currently working in gathering data on feedback of IEM students about their studies, which allows me to understand what is lacking in their curricula and use that to produce more value to ESTIEMers through Academic Days.

Joining the Academic Days team, something I had been wanting to do for a while, brought me a full overview of the service and allowed me to see the bigger picture of what this entity can offer to our community. I consider myself to be an education-driven person, and being involved in the department made me eager to be a facilitator of knowledge to complement ESTIEMers IEM curricula. Now, I feel ready to take on new challenges and I am honoured to apply for the position of Academic Days leader.

These are the goals I would like to work for in the next 12 months:

  • Raise awareness for the potential of these events as a way of not only complementing the participants’ curriculums, but also fostering good relationships with universities;
  • Assess the possibility of having certification in events, to add even more value to participants and universities.
  • Development of the event topics by creating new ones and exploring the opportunities of recreating successful past events so as to extend the knowledge to a new generation of ESTIEMers;
  • Enable all our stakeholders to have a more clear view of the service and the benefits they gain by collaborating with the entity, through the creation of a brochure;

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to approach me through email (Joana.Vaz@estiem.org)

Dear ESTIEMers,

I have started my journey in ESTIEM with a “why not” and a little bit courage in 2018. Now as a better version of me, I feel ready to support the growth of this huge family. 

I am Selin İnceöz from LG İstanbul Boğaziçi. I am ready to sail away from the safe harbour and face a new challenge, but a pretty new one. It is my honour to apply for the position of Global Student Challenge leader of ESTIEM.

After years in NGOs, and experiences ı had during organizing events in our LG I learnt what motivates me. I can clearly say it is a pleasure to work for what ı believe in with the people who are also my friends. We need to work hard if we want to play hard, and here, I found hundreds of people sharing the same mindset with me, striving for discovering and aiming high. When I realize the respectful constructive culture, I become a person who is doing her best but also not being afraid of making mistakes and learning from them. Best memories come right after this trust. During CM Famagusta, I realized that change in my mindset, decided to get more active in the central level to make something better for the thing that made me better. I was aware of my self improvement, and this forced me to take action for the other people who have potential and need to be encouraged. 

New steps always excite me, the Global Student Challenge with the partnership of Inchainge has been taking place in ESTIEM for just 2 years which is such a perfect fit! I joined the first chat, tried to get to know the challenge. There were some foggy areas depending on many causes naturally, and to get rid of that foggy environment I took the responsibility for LG support, sent a detailed email to LR’s and shared updates in elium. This time, I observed the potential of challenge for IEM Europe. I believe we can develop an external connection with this challenge as creating an atmosphere to experience a real life simulation of supply chain management for ESTIEMers.

Here is some points which I want to focus:

  • Creating written contract (defining the roles of both sides what inchainge can give us and what we can give them) to improve the relationship with the company
  • Creating content to enlighten the blurry areas which people have struggled previously. Encouraging teams to have mentors and explaining how does competition works, it is useful especially for the first round since teams have no certain  idea about how it works 
  • Making stronger connections with LGs to increase the number of teams 
  • Strengthening the communication inside the team and increasing their information about the supply chain.
  • Raising the awareness and knowledge about  the competition for the network.

Thank you already for reading, since Global Student Challenge is new in ESTIEM. You might have some questions or suggestions, if so, you can always contact me either by email on selin.inceoz@estiem.org 

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”. This is a story about my steps in ESTIEM network.

Dear ESTIEMers,

My name is Anastasiya Slipenko, I’m 22 years old and I’m from LG Kyiv. My journey in ESTIEM started 3 years ago when I joined my LG. For a long time I was active on the local level, half a year I was a part of the Local Board and one time I was a project leader. In autumn 2019 after the CM Famagusta, I joined several Central ESTIEM entities, one of them was Global Student Challenge. This entity was quite new in ESTIEM and I was curious about it. In the organizing team, I was responsible for PR of the competition for ESTIEMers. Also, I participated in the competition with my team from LG Kyiv. It was an interesting experience for me because it helped me to understand deeply what it is about, how it works and what can you learn from it. 

Now I am applying for the position of the Leader of the Global Student Challenge because it is a good time to do the next step in my journey in ESTIEM. I guess online competitions like Global Student Challenge are important for ESTIEMers, since it can involve more students and they can join it even if it is not possible to travel. I want to do my input in developing this entity. 

For the upcoming year, I would like to focus on:

–    Involving more teams of ESTIEMers to take part in the Global Student Challenge than in previous years. It is also important not just to involve teams to join, but support them to finish the competition.

–    Continue saving good relationships with Inchainge Company. Good relationships with the company are the main reason why GSC is available for all ESTIEMers. 

–    Increasing awareness about the competition among ESTIEMers

–    Creating promotional materials for the GSC team

Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me via my e-mail anastasiya.slipenko@estiem.org.

In High ESTIEM,

Anastasiya Slipenko

When you have a dream that you can’t let go of, trust your instincts and pursue it. But remember: Real dreams take work, they take patience, and sometimes they require you to dig down very deep. Be sure you’re willing to do that. It was the motivation that compelled me to shape my mindset regarding making an impact on the way we are educated as ESTIEMers by taking an active role rather than sitting on the ground and complaining about its regressiveness.

Dear ESTIEMers,         

My name is Batuhan Aydın from LG Ankara-METU who adapted this mindset; hereby, I am honored to have the opportunity to alter IEM Connection (formerly IEM Development) from an initiative to an ESTIEM service by applying for the leadership position in this Council Meeting.

After attending CM Tampere, I realized that ESTIEM also offers ‘work hard’ part besides its ‘play hard’ part. Since then, I have taken responsibilities both in the central level as IEM Summit responsible and local level as a board member. As a responsible in IEM Development, I’ve seen the IEM Summit dream becoming a reality as we put more effort to organize the event, I got encouraged by my team members and I encouraged them. The aura we had was the key point I kept believing in our possible impact on IEM education. Additionally, I have interacted with many active members and LGs which assisted me to expand my network inside ESTIEM during the process.

Since both the mission of our entity and the name have changed in the last weeks, our main goal is now being the facilitator of the voice of IEM students and connect them with professors and professionals. As a consequence, we will be aiming to create an environment for IEMers to make an impact on and contribute to education in Europe in the next mandate. Two more focus areas have been assigned inside the entity recently: “Local Educational Events” and “Online Education”, additionally to IEM Summit and Conferences.

In case getting elected by the Council, I have established the following goals for the upcoming year:

Have IEM Summit that reunites international IEM students to discuss education in this autumn as planned while providing essential materials and knowledge to make the summit annually organized.

Bring education discussions online and create an online platform that allows students to share their ideas collectively, benchmark them and get conclusions regarding specific topics while not only attracting IEMers to our discussions, but also to externals as well.

– Create the opportunity for Local Groups to express themselves regarding their own education and foster their members to discuss it together by implementing the local educational events.

– By arranging and promoting the participation of ESTIEMers on international conferences, demonstrate the importance, that ESTIEM attaches to academic development, to externals and to create opportunities that will affect the perspective of IEMers.

If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact me via my e-mail Batuhan.Aydin@estiem.org

In High ESTIEM!

Batuhan Aydın

Fellow ESTIEMers,

Success contains inherent change. You make decisions, you act upon them. If you work hard enough, if everything goes right and you have a bit of luck, you’ll get to the point where you fighted to be. But when you realize you got there, what to do next?

A crossroad….

Last March, we, a portuguese guy and a dutch fellow, met on a cold but sunny day in Leiden, a city in the middle of The Netherlands. Both of us were at sort of a crossroad. We would both spend quite a few years estieming already. One had been in the Lean Six Sigma Team for quite some time helping to expand the Local Courses, had become an ESTIEM Trainer, and had spent some time hitchhiking around Europe, sleeping in estiem couches here and there, wherever ESTIEMers would open their door and offer beer. The other had been involved with the project almost from the beginning, instructing in many Training Events, meeting with Greg and the three original Finns to improve our content, and even going so far as The Gambia in support of the project! Different lifes, “accomplished” estiemers, at a crossroad. Both trying to push the other to run for the leadership of the project. After hours of discussion, coffee and stroopwaffels, our love for this project prevailed, and we devised what we believe will be the best solution: A co-leadership application, that supports itself on our individual strengths, that answers the team’s needs and that will result in much more than we could offer individually. 

Cross-road is also a good description of the place where the project finds itself right now. Its success, built by incredibly motivated team members, enabled by a dedicated instructor community and founded upon materials and mentorship from Professor Gregory Watson, produced amazing results so far.

What now though? As Greg would say himself, “Success is a moving target!”. Tomorrow’s success depends on redefining what it means, now that we have accomplished what we initially set out to achieve. Our biggest priority will be to shape the project’s direction for the years to come and prepare the tools that will be required for the new challenges. We want, more than being the origin of change, to be the facilitators of the next evolution of the ESTIEM Lean Six Sigma Team: our personal goals supporting the long term vision of the team and not the other way around.

For the next year of day-in and day-out hard work, we rely upon a team of friends. It’s because of them and for them that we have the pleasure to apply together to the Leadership of the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Course Project.

It’s also with this team that we reached the following goals for the co-leadership during our CoM in March:

* Reshape the team for growth with quality

    – by review current expansion strategy, shifting the focus to growth in communities

    – by promoting quality without effort and automatic quality control

    – by betting on modularity of content that allows scalability

* Strengthening the relationships between our course facilitators – Local mentors and Instructors – and our external stakeholders – Professors, Universities and Companies.

* Shape the vision of the team for the next 3 years.

We would love to hear from you in the next following days. Knowing your ideas and answering your questions is very valuable for us.

Thank you so much for reading dear friends.

As always in High ESTIEM,

Martijn Buijvoets (Local Group EINDHOVEN) & Miguel Veiga de Macedo (Local Group BERLIN & PORTO)

CONTACTS: 

Martijn.Buijvoets@estiem.org

Miguel.Macedo1@estiem.org

Note: Since the Internal Regulations of ESTIEM will only allow one individual to apply for the leadership, you will find Miguel Veiga de Macedo’s name on the voting bill. However, a vote for Miguel will be a vote for the co-leadership application as presented above.

Career Development

Dear ESTIEMers, 

I am Nikolina Gklezaki, a proud member of Local Group Xanthi. My experience in my LG and my recent involvement in central ESTIEM has sparked my enthusiasm to apply for the leadership of Be X for X Days. 

During my years in university I have been involved in many projects, competitions and other NGOs. My role has shifted from just a team member to organiser, coordinator,  etc. Even tutor and mentor. All these different experiences have helped me develop my personal and professional skills and also gave me a brief taste of leadership and project management. Therefore, I like to consider myself as an enthusiastic person who enjoys working in a friendly environment and grabs every opportunity that comes by. 

I first got entangled with the ESTIEM Spirit when I became an active member in my Local Group back in 2017, by being in the organizational team of several  international and local events. After a while of enjoying one of the best parts of ESTIEM, I realised it was time for me to give something back to the network, and thus, in 2019, I applied for the Local Board. Working as a boardie helped me understand better how the network operates and pushed me to get involved in central ESTIEM and be more active. 

Following that feeling, I decided to join the team of Be X for X Days, a new born entity that was trying to find its place within ESTIEM, and put my grain of sand in the process. Even though my involvement in the entity only dates back to January, it has been a very enlightening and enriching experience. Furthermore, I gained understanding of how it is to work in a multicultural environment and saw the bigger picture.

After a lot of thinking and reflection, I strongly believe that I am ready to take this next step and this new opportunity. My main goals for the future of the entity are: 

  • Raise the entity’s awareness within the network and further develop its identity,
  • Define and develop support tools to help LGs while organising a Be X for X Days event,
  • Organise two events per semester (long term) and explore new opportunities to ESTIEMers in these challenging days (short term),
  • Ensure the sustainability of the entity by following up the line of work of the previous leader.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me via e-mail on Nikolina.Gklezaki@estiem.org 

In high ESTIEM,

Nikolina Gklezaki

Dear ESTIEMers,

            My name is Lampros Alexos from Local Group Xanthi. My journey in ESTIEM began in 2017 when I joined my first event which was an exchange with Local Group Oulu. Since then, I have been attending and organizing a lot of events but the one that really changed my life was Summer Entrepreneurship Training. During the Summer Entrepreneurship Training event in Minho and Porto I met an entrepreneur who told me that “Life is a rollercoaster of unpredictable things, but you have to take the risks.” Thus, I am taking a leap of faith and I am hereby applying for the BusinessBooster leader position.

            My active involvement in ESTIEM started with my election as Vice President of Public Relations in my Local Group. Despite a successful and uplifting year I wanted to boost my Local Group further and applied to become the Local Responsible of Local Group Xanthi .During my time as a Local Responsible, together with my fellow board members and the members of the Local Group, we focused on reforming our internal structure to empower our members to contribute more actively. Through these experiences, my aspirations to further devote my time and help the organization grow, led me to join the BusinessBooster project. In BusinessBooster I was part of the Summer Entrepreneurship Training team. During my time in the team I was actively involved with contacting companies that were suitable for the event and bringing awareness to ESTIEMers about the possibilities that they could have by participating in the event.

In addition to my involvement in the BusinessBooster project I was also part of an entrepreneurship team at my university where I acted as a coordinator and focused on helping people get familiar with the many aspects of entrepreneurship and modern business models through trainings and workshops. Through the experiences that I have had both in the BusinessBooster and the university team, I have realized that we have yet to unlock the full potential of BusinessBooster. Increasing the amount of future Entrepreneurs in the ESTIEM network and supplying them with the necessary knowledge to succeed is what ultimately motivates me the most to apply for this position.

Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity and realize those possibilities with the following goals for the next 12 months:

  •  Create a pool of BusinessBooster stakeholders such as startups, entrepreneurs, mentors and professors that will contribute into ensuring that the appropriate level of knowledge and experience is being delivered to our involved member, by fostering collaboration with them.
  • Preservation of knowledge through the relaunch of the online courses as an integral part of the BusinessBooster entity.
  •  Organize a Winter version of Summer Entrepreneurship Training to enlarge the possibility of ESTIEMers getting familiar with the entrepreneurial spirit. 

Thank you for your attention. I will be happy to answer any questions or hear suggestions you might have. You can contact me through email at Lampros.Alexos@estiem.org 

Ready, SET, Go!

In high ESTIEM,

Lampros Alexos

When I look back to the times that I spent with ESTIEM, the feeling of happiness, freedom, and courage comes with it, and these are helping me to express who I am. Now I feel the need for going further by challenging myself into a new adventure.

Dear ESTIEMers,

I am Mina Örgen from LG Ankara-METU. I am glad to announce my application as TIMES Project Leader for the next mandate.

I have spent my last two years as an ESTIEMer. I still remember the enthusiastic feeling at my first event. The excitement of traveling to another country, meeting with new people, and starting as strangers but building close friendships just in a week… I enjoyed being a participant as well as an organizer. I learned so many developing knowledge during this time and tried to convey what I learned to other people. I know that there is more than I have ever lived with ESTIEM.

I have started working in Central with Global Student Challenge Team and enjoyed my position as Local Group Support Responsible. After being the project leader of TIMES Local Qualification in my local group, I have also become TIMES team member since organizing Local Qualification provided me an overview; hence, I realized that involving more on the TIMES is what I would like to do at the Central level. As I get more responsibilities at the Central level, I started to feel more confident, and it helped me to be more assertive with my thoughts. I find TIMES valuable in terms of not only assessing IEM skills but also learning various perspectives from different people. That’s why I think TIMES should keep its existence; competition is still maintaining its quality with cases and shows the importance of the mission of bringing IEMers together in Europe as ESTIEM.

If I am elected, I will be focusing on these following goals:

  • Ensuring the value of the new modifications regarding Semi-Final are understood well by local groups and all.
  • Providing more up-to-date features to TIMES
  • Contacting local groups for organizing a suitable and improved TIMES training event for their members. 
  • Adding a ‘crisis management’ session to the competition if it suits the case.
  • Working with the Corporate Relations Committee to sustain the partnerships for TIMES.

 If you have any questions or opinions, please contact me via e-mail (Mina.Orgen@estiem.org

In High ESTIEM.

Mina Örgen

Intercultural Development

Dear ESTIEMers,
 
Question: Do you know how to confuse a Stupido?
 
My name is Bogdan Pătrașcu-Arabagian, I’m a 22 year old student from LG Bucharest. I joined ESTIEM two and a half years ago and I can tell you with the hand on my hart, that these were the best years in my life. ESTIEM helps you to develop in many ways, you only need to choose in which direction you want to go. For me the first instinct was to try the intercultural part of it, because I think that this was also one of the reasons why ESTIEM started in the first place; to understand and learn about other cultures and also have fun in the same time.
 
What did I achieve during my time in ESTIEM?
 
First I started going to a lot of Activity Weeks, because I like a lot to travel and in the same time to experience how other people party and have fun. During this time there came an opportunity for me and my LG to organise the autumn 2019 CM for VWI (a partner association that LG Bucharest is also part of). I went full on with it and as a project leader I think that we did a really good job, even though it was the first time for me when I organised such a big event (approx. 150 participants). After this I joined the AW team, because I realized that I can do more and help this service to improve. At the moment I am the Quality Responsible of the team.
 
What are my ideas about Activity Week?
 
Activity Weeks are, in my opinion, the best way to start to know more about a country/region, because you do a lot of entertaining activities while also learning a bit about the culture. This is why I want to encourage Local Groups to organise more regional specific Activity Weeks (e.g. food / cultural / music / etc. orientated), that can become very easy organised yearly. Another thing that I want to introduce in the team is having a designer that can help LGs in creating eye-catching and interesting promotion materials for the events. Also in my opinion what could help with the activities part is creating a booklet that should include funny activities and their short description, in order for LGs to have the opportunity to choose between them if they didn’t come up yet with their own ideas.
 
That being said I want to let you with the answer for the question I asked at the start.

Answer: Give them a pineapple.

Yours truly,
Bogdan Pătrașcu-Arabagian

I have been telling people around me that when I am older and look back on now, I want to remember a very fulfilled life without having anything to regret not doing. Every new challenge I take on is a reason to smile for and this boosts a never-ending motivation for myself. 

My name is İdil Lopez, I am 20 years old and from LG Istanbul-Bogazici. Ever since I was a little kid, my engagement with language-based skills drew away all others and my belief in the power of language is very strong. What I trust is that if one learns to understand the others around him/her, then there is no single obstacle to stand in the way. Communication is key and to stand by what I believe,

I am very honored to apply for the position as the Leader of ESTIEM Language Programme. 

My first ESTIEM event was two years ago and it was an exchange with LG Berlin. Leaving aside all the fun I had, there was something in particular that I didn’t know existed in ESTIEM’s structure, something that really caught my attention. It was a short session of language presentation. It was an offering of ELP which I didn’t know then but I remember my mind thinking of ways to improve it. After going to different events, being a project leader in my LG and attending my first CM as a delegate I was sure that ESTIEM was going to be my family. That’s how my journey started! I, later on, was selected to the Local Board of my LG.  Some months after that, I started working inside the ELP as the External Communications Responsible and later on my duty was changed as the Language Buddy System Task Group Leader. With this new duty in hand, I once again realized my dedication and motivation to continue contributing to the network. 

During the past few weeks, I was a part of the online event “Training Next Leaders” which helped me look through a bigger frame and understand which points I will be leaning on during my mandate. Here are some goals and ways of reaching them that I wish to share with you all:

  • Creating a brand image for ELP
    • Creating a new PR strategy and branding with the help of PRC
    • Working on a better definition that can help our network better comprehend the importance of ELP 
    • Working on the growth of our mission statement 
    • Leaning towards the cultural benefits of language practicing as we set our goals
  • Improving the team structure
    • Optimizing the team structure with the help of my current leader, analyzing and re-stating responsibilities
    • Creating a knowledge-sharing environment within our team to make sure we are developing ourselves where we can share interesting data on our subject
    • Adopting a team mascot so that it can give us a hug when we are feeling blue!
    • Working on the possibility of using online tools like Asana to keep track and setting working chats to create a vivid environment
    • Having frequent team chats to take decisions together and work in harmony
    • Collaborating with the Trainers Community to start off by getting trainings like feedback receiving and facilitation to have a smooth and productive year
  • Keeping a sustainable growth strategy with new and fresh offerings along the way
    • Leaning on improving and raising the number of Language Course events
    • Working on a Language Survival AW and finding ways of implementing try-outs
  • Creating a language learning cycle
    • Linking together ELP offerings
    • Bringing together the Language Buddy System and Conversation Clubs
    • Giving labels for “language cycle masters” who complete the cycle!
  • Improving our online possibilities
    • Working on the possibility of sharing our data and language-based news with the network through a newsletter format
    • Working on more online possibilities for ESTIEMers to connect and spread the diversity of our various languages spoken
    • Researching the possibility of converting Language Buddy System to a mobile application!

Although I am pretty limitless and enthusiastic about sharing more and more, this must come to an end! Shall you have any questions about me, my goals, my vision for the future or just to chit chat, please do approach me via Idil.Lopez@estiem.org !

And, hopefully, see you all in Chapter 6: Re-defining Limits!

In high ESTIEM,

İdil Lopez

Dear ESTIEMers,

My name is Olha Volkova, I’m a 19 years old student from LG Kyiv. My journey in ESTIEM started with amazing Local Group Exchange organized by LG Berlin. Honestly, it all began a bit earlier, but my first event abroad was a powerful trigger to do something bigger. So these 2,5 years of my ESTIEM experience were often filled with love and huge motivation to make an impact! I was also trying to find myself. Through position of Vice President of Human Resources in Local Board and some responsibilities in central HRC team, I finally came to my roots.

I remember the day when I joined Local Group Exchange Team as if it was yesterday. I still remember a speech of former Coordinator, who said that exchanges make up majority of ESTIEM events, but no one cares of them. Looking back at that day, I’m sure it was one of the best decisions in my whole life to join LGX Team!

I knew it’s hard to do everything from a scratch. Create a strong team, set up some standards and communication channels, but what’s even more important – make people believe that Exchanges should be treated in a same responsible way as any other type of event. A lot has been done and a lot has changed since that day. But now it’s time to move on to new achievements!

So, with a great honor I’m applying for another half a year of Exchange Coordinator position.

Not taking your attention by what has been done so far, I just want to notice that it’s all explained in Local Group Exchange Report available on YouTube. 

Let’s just move to our future goals:

  • Local Group Matching Platform – a long story, which should be finally implemented and tested as soon as events are back!
  • Organizer’s Toolkit – am easy and fast way for You to make the best exchange ever!
  • Expectations Form – that’s how we’re going to increase quality of your exchange before it’s even started!
  • Facilitation Program – something extremely new and fascinating for You and our team members! Stay tuned for more details:)

Thanks for your courage to read it to the end! I’m always happy to explain something in more details or hear your suggestions via Olha.Volkova@estiem.org.
In High ESTIEM,
Olha Volkova

Two years ago, I’ve had the privilege to attend my first official ESTIEM event; Europe3D Italy organized by Local Group Calabria. I couldn’t tell whether it was my enthusiasm or seeing how it brings people together from all around Europe that made me fall in love with both ESTIEM and Europe3D but I knew it would lead to a life-changing experience. And today it still remains as one of the best events I’ve ever attended and I still have the same love and passion that motivates me to contribute more and make it possible for everyone to have the same opportunity.

Dear ESTIEMers,

My name is Helin Ergezer, from Local Group Izmir-Economy, I am 22 years old and in my 4th year of studies. And it is my greatest honor to present you my application for the position of Europe3D Leadership.

My adventure as an ESTIEMer started 2,5 years ago when I joined my Local Group, but little did I know how much it’d change my life for the better and help me to become the person that I am today. First I got active on the local level and became a Project Leader for Mediterranean Regional Coordination Meeting in 2018. It was actually the first time that I’ve felt the ESTIEM spirit and embraced the motto of Work Hard, Play Hot. After feeling the spirit, I decided to discover more about ESTIEM and attend my first event which was E3D Italy. All these experiences motivated me to take a role in my Local Board therefore I’ve applied and got elected as the Vice President of Corporate Relations. However, I wanted to go even further so I got more active in Central level by joining the CRC team. Attending my second Europe3D in Spain helped me to get a better comprehension of Europe3D as an event in the sense of how it helps ESTIEMers to understand the differences between countries in different dimensions and how it increases intercultural awareness within ESTIEMers. Seeing such diversity in an event made me want to work and contribute to nourishing the project. That led me to apply for the position of Quality Responsible of Economy and Politics Dimensions in Europe3D team right after CM Tampere. During my time in the Europe3D team, I’ve had an opportunity to learn more about how our team functions and how I can contribute to its development. Besides working in the central team, I’ve attended three Europe3D events and one Europe4D and participating in those events gave me a deeper insight into how a proper Europe3D should be organized.

During my ESTIEM journey, I’ve attended more than ten events including two Council Meetings and one Intercultural Development Department Coordination Meeting. Attending a Coordination Meeting made me understand how our department functions and what Europe3D’s role within it. This year I got the opportunity to organize and be one of the Project Leaders of the LX Council Meeting. It was a unique experience to try to organize a Council Meeting in less than 4 months. Although unfortunately, it had to be cancelled but this experience taught me a lot and I believe that I can reflect upon it in my life.

If I get elected, I would like to focus on these goals;

    • Raising awareness among our partners and other NGOs about the opportunities provided in Europe3D events for Externals.
    • Develop and improve the new concept of Europe3Digital.
    • Make sure of the implementation of new strategies about the organizers’ toolkit.
    • Keep updating all the documents in the drive as well as creating new ones according to the needs of the Organizers and the feedback collected from the previous Europe3D Participants. 
    • Increase the communication between Central Team Members and Local Organizers in order to help them to cover properly all dimensions.
    • Create an Alumni pool similar to an advisory community consist of old Project Leaders and Team Members of Europe3D to benefit from their experiences, increase the sustainability and keep the Panda spirit alive.
    • Enhance the communication and knowledge transfer within the Intercultural Development Department and increase the collaboration with the Language Programme to ensure the sustainability of Europe4D concept in the future.
    • Spread the Panda spirit in all Europe3D events and Council Meetings by creating new merchandise.

Thank you for your attention and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me by e-mail (helin.ergezer@estiem.org).

In High ESTIEM,

Helin Ergezer

Personal Development

Dear estiemers,

are you ready for a little fairy tale?

Once upon a time (last spring, actually) a girl while being an organizer in her first event was told that there will be a nice one called Summer Academy during which participants cry, change their lives and have no alcohol in International night. To say the least – she was interested. Later on she became one of the participants of Summer Academy in Moscow. Yes, it was life-changing. When she came back, she was a better version of herself. No longer lost, having a totally different plan for her future and feeling confidence that she hasn’t felt for a pretty long time.

Hey, my name is Irina Gromakovskaya, I am from LG Minsk and I am that girl. This spring I am applying for Leader of Summer Academy.

What happened to me during the year? I became an LR of my local group, it gave me lots of skills and experience and happy to say that LG Minsk is now in phase of sustainable development. I had a pleasure to join Summer Academy team, also I was one of organizers of Winter Academy in my LG and I am an organizer and a participant of first Summer Academy online.

Speaking about some of the goals for the upcoming year:

  • raising awareness about Summer Academy among estiemers
  • using online opportunities of providing knowledge for pandemic times and continuing using afterwards to cover more people
  • improving communication with Academic Leaders during the year and contact new Academic Leaders
  • maintain quality of the events through providing updated BPD to organizing LG

I want to give the possibility to become heroes of their own fairy tales to more people. I genuinely believe that Summer Academy is a treasure of ESTIEM and I want to remind others about it with hard work and high results.

See you somewhere online,

Irina Gromakovskaya

Every challenge, every step of our lives gives us an opportunity. If we find it out, it’s time to make a decision. 

Dear ESTIEMers, My name is Yaren Karabulut, I am 20 years old, and from LG Istanbul Yildiz. Now it’s time for me to step up to the new challenge. It is my honor to apply for the position of BrainTrainer Leader of ESTIEM.

My journey in ESTIEM started in September 2017. After a while, I started to take steps with the BrainTrainer Madrid event which has encouraged me to take more responsibility. After this incredible event, I fell in love with BrainTrainer. That event gave me a chance to meet an old leader of BT and I became a team member of the amazing team. As a team member for 2 years, I had the opportunity to get to know ESTIEM deeply. Since last April, I am the Event Support Coordinator in the team. As a Coordinator of the team, I have learned organization parts of BrainTrainer and helped the local groups to organize the events.

In 2018, I was the leader of our mother association (KVK) as Alumni & External Affairs Coordinator.

In the last 3 years, I attended 3 Council Meetings and in CM Warsaw, I held the position of secretary. Moreover, I am a member of the Mentorship Programme in the Mediterranean Region. ESTIEM helped me to explore myself while working hard and playing hard with the amazing people I have ever met.

During my mandate I want to focus on:

  • Creating an approachable environment and increase the visibility of BrainTrainer by adapting the new team structure to the project 
  • Increasing the efficiency in BrainTrainer by organizing a Coordination Meeting during my mandate and, bringing new online working methods after researching and deciding with the team.
  • Stay contemporary, updating all of the outdated templates and documents related to BrainTrainer, all the drive folders and ensuring topicality on Elium
  • Improve the database which gives many ideas to Local Groups for selecting the event concept. This database will also help us to create the sustainability of the events.
  • Designing new promotional materials for the BrainTrainer team
  • Improving the idea of online BrainTrainer events
  • Continue working with Trainers Community for events and improve the collaboration inside of the Personal Development Department while searching for new collaborations.

Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions or suggestions, please, don’t hesitate to contact me either by email to Yaren.karabulut@estiem.org

In High ESTIEM,

Yaren Karabulut

More applications!

Dear ESTIEMers,

My name is Tanja Gagić (also known as Taki) from Local Group Belgrade and I am very honoured to present my application for Project Leader of ESTIEM Magazine.

I would like to start with a famous quote: “Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.” you might be familiar with it, but for those who are not, I will not reveal the origin of it just yet. I just need you to bear it in mind through this monologue of mine.

My ESTIEM journey started in 2017. I joined Local Group Belgrade as a freshman, not quite sure what I was looking for, but almost certain that I needed to be there. In my Local Group, I have worked in the area of human resources, analytics and IT. You might say, nice, diverse, I say – really clueless. After 2 years on the local level, I turned my focus to the central level to find what is it that I was searching for. That is how I became the first ESTIEM Blog Responsible. While going through old issues of the ESTIEM Magazine, selecting articles to publish on the Blog and talking to previous authors, I became aware of the importance that the Magazine had – an archive of memories, vault of ESTIEM spirit and a legacy of ESTIEM. Soon enough, I joined Magazine’s Article Acquisition task group, and became the leader of it. It was during 57th issue of ESTIEM Magazine, and now, as we are preparing for 59th issue, I cannot even put into words how excited I am about the possibility of being the next Project Leader.

 During the online ESTIEM Magazine Coordination Meeting I had no doubt that I would like to take responsibility for the project. The decisions made there really confirmed that ESTIEM Magazine has a long way to go, and many areas with high potential for development. The areas I would focus on in my mandate are:

  • Increasing the reach of the ESTIEM Magazine inside ESTIEM by establishing a direct approach to Local Groups and Alumni
  • Restructuring of the process of how the team approaches possible authors,  with a bigger focus on encouraging new authors and supporting the pool of current authors, all for the goal of having continuous workflow over the year
  • Supporting the further development of ESTIEM Blog by exploring possibilities of differentiating the content from Magazine without compromising the quality
  • Exploring the possibilities of future partnerships the Magazine could bring, together with the Corporate Relations Committee

I strongly believe that with taking care of these four goals, the ESTIEM Magazine can make a positive impact to the whole network. But more than that, I believe that we have so many stories by fellow ESTIEMers to read, so much motivation to take from the experiences of people that built ESTIEM as we see it today. As the quote I wrote in the beginning said, a great artist can come from anywhere. While the quote is actually from the animated movie “Ratatouille”, I could not agree more. The greatest story I have heard is a story of how a few students wanted to build something to unite the European students of IEM, and 30 years later we can witness the impact that sole idea has on thousands of people.

Thank you for attention. I will be really happy to answer any questions or hear suggestions you might have. You can contact me through email (tanja.gagic@estiem.org

In high ESTIEM,

Tanja Gagić

Dear ESTIEMers, 

My name is Eveline van Oosterhout, I’m 21 years old, from local group Eindhoven. It is with great pleasure that I will apply for the position of financial controller. 

I first came in contact with ESTIEM at the end of my first year when I joined the exchange with Kiev. It was a great event and it certainly interested me for ESTIEM and all the network had to offer. Shortly after this I applied for the board of LG Eindhoven and I also went to the CM in Izmir. My interest for the network grew and I helped to organize and attend many local (ESTIEM) events. 

Within the board of LG Eindhoven I fulfilled the position of VP of Finance. This helped me to fully understand the way an association has to do their bookkeeping according to the Dutch law. Furthermore I learned new soft skills as well as skills regarding finances and keeping an association financially healthy. During my board year I designed the structure for the digital bookkeeping for the association. Now I’m ready for a new personal challenge for and I would like to help the ESTIEM network on a central level. 

I think the position of financial controller will suit me, because I have the following experiences: 

– VP of Finance of many local committees, this helped me to understand how a budget and a realization works for a specific event.

– VP of Finance of the 23rd board of LG Eindhoven. I was responsible for the financial health of the association and had to make a budget and realization for one year. I also checked the budget and realization for every event to help the VP of Finance of the committee.

– Financial controller of LG Eindhoven and of Industria(our mother association). In this committee I checked several declarations, invoices and realizations to ensure the bookkeeping of our association was neat. 

By becoming financial controller I want to use my knowledge of finances and the Dutch law to help the VP of finance and ensuring that ESTIEM is financially healthy. Furthermore I have the following goals: 

– Ensure that the bookkeeping of ESTIEM is up to date, neat, correct and according to the Dutch law.

– To improve the way the financial update on a CM is given, to ensure that everybody will understand what is said. – Supporting the VP of Finance with my knowledge if it’s needed. – Follow up on the plan to structure the handover for financial controllers. 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me on Eveline.van.Oosterhout@estiem.org. 

In high ESTIEM, 

Eveline van Oosterhout