Board to Board

Committees Activities

Of course everyone is also curious about what their favorite activity of last year was. Jasper thinks of the Actuary Day of Tilburg being the nicest activity, since there was a lunch, a snack, a drink and besides that also some nice cases and presentations. Also, the soup should not be forgotten. Wilbert agrees about this and adds that it was a successful activity with a great ambiance. According to Janneke, the Batavierenrace was the nicest activity because it was the first time the association participated in this event. Robbert mentions the Parents Evening, he liked the fact that a lot of people were present, although it was the 11th of the 11th (November 11, start of the carnival season). The first big formal activity the board organized was the Healthcare Symposium, and therefore Fang Qi enjoyed this activity the most.

Now moving on to the committees which they were a member of, which one was their favorite? Everyone liked all the committees they were a member of, but everyone has a slight preference. Robbert liked the introduction activity committee because of the creativity of the committee members. Due to the organized activity being somewhat different from others and the contact with former active members, Janneke liked the KOALA committee the most. Fang Qi mentions the Finance Expedition committee, since this was her first formal committee as coordinator and besides Nekst, it was the most challenging one. Wilbert agrees again with Jasper about the LED being the nicest activity, since this is the biggest event you can organize, it was challenging for them and there are a lot of things you can decide by yourself. They regret that they could not finish this committee, but they think they have ‘een mooi zaadje geplant’ (English: have planted a nice seed). Although Wilbert and Jasper already agreed on two questions, this was not the case during their board year. For example, they had quite some discussions about the QF/AS and OR/MS master directions.

The Board Year

The biggest advantage of a board year is the personal development. All agree on the fact that you learn and grow more, mentally and physically, in one year on the board than during one year of studying, or even during your entire bachelor program. Fang Qi would like to add that you get to know yourself very well. One characteristic Jasper discovered about himself is that he can work together with people better than he thought he could. In the end, all are much more stress proof than they could have ever imagined. Fang Qi discovered her talent for remembering names (and telephone numbers, and email addresses, and so on..). Janneke knows that she is still bad at multitasking, while this is exactly the thing Wilbert discovered about himself which he is good at. The characteristic Robbert discovered about himself was that he can get angry or grumpy, especially when he has to order the committee pictures for room E1.09. Jasper would like to add that Wilbert did not discover yet that he has no talent for singing.

The most embarrassing moment of Jasper’s board year has something to do with penguins and for Wilbert something with the toilet at the E-building. Robbert was embarrassed when he was pushed over by some jealous guy at a drink of another Asset association. The women had their share of embarrassing moments as well. Fang Qi made sure that no board member had access to the rooms anymore, and Janneke had an allergic reaction in the bus after the Asset Lustrum gala. Finally, the old board thought of what ‘Are you aware of the fact that..?’ questions they would ask themselves. After some brainstorming and a little help from each other, they came up with some interesting questions. Janneke would ask herself the following question: “Are you aware of the fact that it is not very normal that you can only sit on one desk in the Asset | Econometrics rooms”? Jasper: “Are you aware of the fact that you should include all activities in the presentation for the GMM”? Wilbert: “Are you aware of the fact that making the same jokes all the time is not funny”? Fang Qi: “Are you aware of the fact that you were carried away in an ambulance during the TUC”? Robbert: “Are you aware of the fact that you should reply to an e-mail only once?” Fortunately, he is aware of that fact now.

Looking Back

There are some things they did not expect from a board year beforehand. For instance, they did not expect that there is never a quiet moment and that you are working a lot after 18.00h at the association’s rooms. One thing that they would have done differently is the OAL dinner, they should have put more effort into this and they would have planned this activity in the weekend instead of on Tuesday evening.

Now that they are back in the lecture rooms, they sometimes miss the board year. They regret that there was no time to realize how awesome such a year is, since it is not like the Hart van Brabantloop where you can say: ‘Let’s do another round’. In their opinion it was strange to sit on the other side of the table during the last GMM, but they liked the final speech of Janneke. Now that they are following lectures, they have plenty of time and it is much easier to be disciplined and to follow the classes. Still they are sometimes approached to give advice about Asset | Econometrics matters, for many people think that they still know everything about all the activities.

After all, they had a wonderful year with each other and they can be proud of themselves about all the nice activities they organized and how they solved all the problems they had to deal with.

We want to wish them all the best in the future and much fun with eating pancakes, the present Janneke gave them!

Tekst by: Daniëlle van Dalen