VOL. 1 ISSUE VII
GOOD TO GRAND AIESEC LAURIER YEARBOOK 2012
The international platform for young people to explore and d
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The international platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential
GOOD TO GRAND AIESEC LAURIER YEARBOOK 2012 2
CONTENTS CA RSO N KO LB ERG LO C A L C O M M I T T EE P R ES I D EN T
M I C H A EL FR AG I S K ATOS V I C E P R ES I D EN T O U TG O I NG E XC H A NG E
C HUN GSOO N H AW V I C E P R ES I D EN T C O M M UN I C AT I O N S
V I C TO R I A L A M V I C E P R ES I D EN T TA L EN T M A N AG EM EN T
A L E X L EE V I C E P R ES I D EN T FI N A N C E
SA L M A N R A N A V I C E P R ES I D EN T C O R P O R AT E R EL AT I O N S
M EM B ER M A P AWA R DS A N D FUN FAC TS
V P O F C O M M U N I C AT I O N S CAROLINE IP
DESIGN LEAD T I F FA N Y C H A N
EDITOR IN CHIEF ISHA AN KUKREJA
TEAM LEAD M AV I S L I U D E S I G N C O N S U LTA N T C L E V E R LU U
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LOCAL COMMITTEE PRESIDENT 4
As a slight anomaly, I completed back-to-ba AIESEC executive terms. This means ma stories to tell through my 750 days of AIESE Can I start with a list of places it has broug me? Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Chandigar Jaipur, Amristsar, Shimla, Agra, Rishikes Muscat, Nairobi, Prague, San Juan, Montre Guelph, Santiago, Vina del Mar, Hanga Ro Rio de Janeiro, Recife, San Jose, Calgar Lisbon and Edmonton. There are more th 110 countries with AIESEC, which means th students in every city in the world might ho you for a visit, a conference, or an exchang The world is full of great people.
Landing on Easter Island was one of the coole moments of my 2 years. Though the Rapa N doesn’t have an AIESEC committee, I was s attracted to the island as part of an AIESE adventure. I never knew a Canadian owned bed and breakfast there. Now I do.
Easter Island is about as far as you can g from Waterloo. I actually found some of m most meaningful memories in earshot. O team retreat where we did team selectio in Niagara Falls was an awesome day. Th was a huge bonding moment. A second tim was in Elora Gorge, about 20 minutes awa We visited AIESEC Guelph and some inter and went for a swim on a cloudy summe
ack any EC. ght rh, sh, eal, oa, ary, han hat ost ge.
est Nui still EC da
get my Our ons hat me ay. rns er’s
day. Honestly, some of the best experiences of your university life will happen less than an hour away. At one point though, I hadn’t left Waterloo during my university experience. At one point, I would have laughed at you if you told me I was going to do these things and then stay for a 5 th year of University. After 2nd year I made a conscious choice to live a life more exciting. To quote Jeff Nugent, CEO of Contingent Workforce Solutions: “’Just do it’ is a popular motto. My life motto is ‘just did it’.” While most people are thinking about doing something, I am already on to the next adventure.
there. Want some concrete numbers? International exchange experiences delivered by AIESEC Laurier 2010 through 2012: 6, 9, 13 Conference delegate experiences lived by Laurier students in AIESEC 2010 through 2012: 34, 56, 146 What was grand? Well, I think we have mobilized a pretty incredible group of people to bring about an internationalization of Laurier. Actually, no, Laurier is already quite diverse. What we are doing is celebrating that diversity and inviting others to the party.
AIESEC is not just individual travelling and adventures, what about our executive team? What were our goals? Were they to Increase the number of students going abroad for work and volunteer experiences, increase the retention of our members locally, increase the number of international interns coming to Canada? No. These were just measurements of growth.
Most of the lessons I learned from experience. Most of the context for understanding those experiences came from Dale Carnegie’s ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’, Jim Collins’ ‘Good to Great’, Tim Ferriss’ ‘The Four Hour Workweek’, Austin Kleon’s ‘Steal Like an Artist’, Julien Smith’s ‘100 Tips about Life, People and Happiness’, Ken Blanchard’s ‘The One Minute Manager’ and the love of my life.
As a local committee, our goal was ambiguous. One of my greatest failures as a leader was to set clear goals. We failed a lot. A LOT. But we learned more. One of my greatest legacy’s was to stand by a vision: Good to Grand. And realistically, more was done under this vision than any single goal could have motivated.
What next? AIESEC has been a platform for developing a massive network, professional skills, soft-skills and a wealth of lived experiences. I will continue to give back to the organization that helped shape me today. Throughout my life I have discovered my passions: sharing cooking techniques and hosting meaningful spaces. I plan to launch a business based on the pillars international gastronomy, simple is
What happened as a result? Read the blog (aieseclaurier.wordpress.com). Our story lives
best, learning theory and social responsibility.
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MICHAEL FRAGISKATOS Vice President of Outgoing Exchange
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Did y ou ac hieve your goals ?
What are some memorable GRAND moments?
m d fro e n r u lea the EB? o y e ce in t hav Wha experien your
EB TEAM
Where have you been with AIESEC? Where are you headed?
B
d nge a h c ? has ortfolio t a Wh our p y with
eing on the Executive Board (EB) gave me an opportunity to work a lot closer with other very different personalities than my own. It was difficult at first because we did not always see eyeto-eye but eventually we were able to understand one another and with it came a new found respect. Whenever we succeeded, we succeeded as a team. Whenever we failed, we failed together.
was at the National Leadership Development Conference (NLDC) back in May when Katya, who was then MC VP OGX, announced that AIESEC Canada beat last year's record of 365 realizations - and that 366th realization that broke the record came from our very own Anchal Dhingra, the new VP Corporate Relations (CR), who went to my motherland Greece on her exchange.
It was difficult to manage a large team at the beginning as it was a first for me and there was so much learning for me as a leader and for them as OGX-ers. In time, everything came together and while there were ups and downs, I'm happy to leave my VP term knowing that my current Outgoing Exchange (OGX) members are sticking around and united and excited to continue working in the portfolio now that they have the skills.
I can't even track anymore how many conferences I've been to in Canada - NLDC 2011 and 2012, National Congress (NC) 2012 (2013 soon), Ontario Atlantic Regional Conference (OARC) 2011, Syntegration, the list goes on. Although I have been in AIESEC for almost 2 years, it's so far taken me to only 2 other countries - Italy (for my GCDP) and US (for Summer National Conference). I know that number will increase throughout the remainder of my AIESEC career.
OGX had very over the top goals at the beginning of the year. Once we realized that this was just way unrealistic, there were revisions. The realization goal we had was 16 realizations, so we did not quite reach it but we are definitely heading in the right direction and have the ability to reach our goals in 2013 now that OGX is more established than ever in AIESEC Laurier. Overall, we achieved a 90% matching rate with Exchange Participants (EPs) which was a huge improvement from last year. 12 EPs were realized which was a 50% increase over 2011. This was grand to me. Not to mention, there was a greater variety in jobs and countries that our EPs went to this year, which increased AIESEC Laurier's global presence. Another grand moment was my own exchange of course, in Italy this summer which I deeply miss so much. Another memorable moment
Now that my VP term is coming to an end, it's time for the next chapter of my AIESEC life - Local Committee President (LCP)! I've got butterflies in my stomach (both from nerves and excitement) knowing that my term for it starts very soon as it is one of, if not, the most challenging roles in AIESEC but I am ready, willing, and able to take that challenge on, especially since it's also the most rewarding role. In 5 years, I will be happy and proud AIESEC Alumnus who continues giving back to the organization. Outside of AIESEC, I will hope to have a stable career related to my major, Global Studies (i.e. embassy worker, foreign affairs). I know it's still not clear now but my time as LCP and my future roles in AIESEC will help me find the right path.
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CHUNGSOON HAW VICE PRESIDENT COMMUNICATIONS January – went to National Congress; a conference that had over 300 students from 28 universities from all over Canada that was held in Montreal. They were by far the most passionate amount of people I had a chance to be with for 4 nights.
can be from India, we doubled our facebook followers. We also met with Mayor Brenda Halloran to discuss the value of AIESEC to our community.
April – the best ideas tend to come up during exams and in the middle of the night. That’s February – went to India as AIESEC Canada’s exactly what happened to me. After reading ambassador for two weeks. To think, this was a couple of entrepreneurs’ stories about how the first time I went anywhere without a parent, they started off, I stumbled onto a blog that the first time I went anywhere by myself, and talked about creating a school magazine and the first time I went to a place I never thought selling ad space to businesses. So I thought, I’d go to. During my time there, I had the chance to go to New Delhi, Chandigarh and Amritsar, have local AIESEC members show me around and had the opportunity to speak to 200 highly energetic students. This has by far been the highlight of my university career. March – finally started working with my new team. The team grew from 2 to 8, and after seeing how big of an impact social media 8
why not create an AIESEC magazine for Laurier and possibly Canada. May – National Leadership Development Conference – 400 students from 28 universities spent 4 nights in Toronto to review our performance, revise our year goals, say goodbye to the current AIESEC Canada team and say hello to the new team. June – the magazine went from being a concept to reality thanks to Catherine, Victoria, Caroline and Tiffany. July – Canada Day in AIESEC means going to Ottawa and celebrating. And celebrate we did. With over 30 people coming from Ontario and Quebec, AIESEC Ottawa hosted all of us during our 2 night stay. If you haven’t realized, we’re quite the friendly group, willing to house AIESEC members no matter where they’re from. August – started planning for September recruitment and got a lot more involved with AIESEC Toronto. Now I have so many places I can stay when I’m downtown! September – our big recruitment. From a team of 8 in the winter term, to a team of 16. One of the best things about being a VP is the ability to hire teams to tackle new ideas that I may have.
Also, with a whole summer interacting with a different local chapter, there were a lot of new ideas. October – Another conference held in Ottawa with 200 students from Ontario and the Atlantic. This was a great way to get new members to experience what it means to be at a conference and the amount of energy that you get from being there November – creating our first ever integrated marketing campaign, turning classroom conversations into real results. We also attempted our first external competition to gain more exposure. December – time’s coming to an end and it’s all about making sure my baby continues to grow with my successor, Caroline. I can’t wait to see what the incoming team will take AIESEC. Next steps – study exchange to Hong Kong and already have 3 AIESEC conferences set in Asia. Not to mention, I’m going to visit all the surrounding countries and meet up with the locals there! This is my one year story. If any of these sounds like something you want to try, all you have to do is stop making excuses and get yourself out there!
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m a L a i r o t c i V Vice President Talent Management H
ey AIESEC! I’d first like to say that my first semester on the EB as VP Talent Management has given me memories, both good and bad. When the opportunity presented itself to me to take over in September, I thought that I should JFDI. I was a little apprehensive at first, because I had no prior job role in Talent Management. The first month I had a slight panic mode, but I’m proud that in the end I got it all together.
The EB really helped me transition into it, and it was comforting knowing we were all working as a team - that all I had to do was ask for help and they would show me the way. From that, I feel like I created a new family for myself. The EB has been awesome company not only as colleagues, but more importantly as friends. In the end, I had no regrets. It’s opened my eyes to seeing how AIESEC really works, and given me the opportunity to do something out of my comfort zone. As such, I decided to run again, just so I can get things right the second time around. It’s been a huge learning experience, especially with the late nights and points where I thought I was near tears due to frustration and setback. The flip side though is seeing your work being done, and being recognized for it. Although my goals were not completed to the fullest, I do believe that Talent Management is reaching new heights within AIESEC Laurier.
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H
owever, none of these setbacks has deterred me from AIESEC - it is truly an organization I feel like where I belong and has given me so many fantastic opportunities - to travel, to lead, and to experience. The best experiences are at the conferences. The national ones of National Congress and National Leadership Development Conference are chances to truly see what AIESEC and AIESEC Canada is all about, make new friends, and more importantly, see how your contributions to AIESEC impact everyone. As for an international conference, I finally did an international experience by going to Costa Rica for JUMP 2012, a leadership development conference with a bunch of crazy South Americans. Although I haven’t gone on exchange, it is probably something I will be doing upon graduation. Who knows, maybe it’ll be before then, more even another international conference experience. But, in the meantime, I’m super excited to be starting another chapter with AIESEC Laurier in 2013.
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Alex
Vice President Finance
EXPERIENCE
AS AN EB As the vice president of the Finance portfolio, I have learned how important it is to keep the communication channels completely open between the portfolios since the finance portfolio has a foot in almost any project the local committee decides to take on. Another lesson I learned as the vice president of finance is to continuously keep all the members of your portfolio involved. Whether that is just showing up to the monthly general assembly, having an AIESEC social or even doing AIESEC related work. If you do not keep them involved and in the loop, they may slowly drift away as AIESEC falls by their waist side.
Some of the goals I set this year were pretty optimistic but I had supreme confidence in our LC to do it. The goals I set were to pay off 33% of our debt and to find a local sponsor. We did not complete the latter goal but we did slash approximately $3300 off our debt which is AMAZING.
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It has been quite the journey since I joined AIESEC almost a year ago and I can clearly see the huge improvement AIESEC has undergone. It truly is amazing how much I have seen this LC grow under our incredibly fearless leader, Carson Kolberg. When I first joined AIESEC I had little, to no, knowledge of what AIESEC was or what I was getting myself into. I did not expect AIESEC to be this tightly knit family of students who bled the AIESEC values.
WHAT
HAVE YOU
LEARNED
GOALS
ACHIEVED
GRAND
MOMENTS
IN THE
FUTURE...
The best moment I had with AIESEC was going to NLDC (National Leadership Development Congress) this past summer. Before then, I did not really understand what the AIESEC culture was or the kind of impact AIESEC can have on someone. NLDC was not only a great experience in terms of what I learned but a great bonding experience with all my fellow members, which was a great way to kick off the AIESEC term.
Whenever I finally decide to graduate, I plan on going on exchange to China or somewhere in Europe to travel and gain relevant work experience. I want to see the world before I settle down and work and I don’t see a better way of doing this other than through AIESEC! My time with AIESEC has been an eye opening experience and has opened up the world to me. There are truly no boundaries with AIESEC and I hope my next year with AIESEC will be as amazing as the first.
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Salman Rana
Vice President Corporate Relations
What have you learned from your experience in the EB?
What has changed with your portfolio?
LEADERSHIP
THE GROWTH OF THE PORTFOLIO
Leadership is not the ability to delegate tasks, set goals, train or ensure that the team is able to reach those goals. Leadership is to be able to make everyone’s ideas into one, without letting anyone feel that they’re voice was not respected. Leadership is to motivate people to do and accomplish the goals that they already aspire to do. Leadership is helping others find the leader in them!
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The establishment of a new Incoming Exchange (ICX) team within Corporate Relations led to a clearer understanding of what ICX meant to an LC. This is a significant step in the growth for Business Development within AIESEC Laurier. The CR portfolio started the year with a bang in January where we won the month’s marketing blitz,
but the energy started to slip away as the months went by. We were hopeful for 8 TNs raised by the year-end but we’ve fallen short. This does not mean failure because what was established is a team of salespersons who are completely trained, motivated, passionate and ready to make their global impact through AIESEC. To be able to achieve our goals in the coming year, I would highly recommend constantly finding conferences to visit, LCs to visit, and fun sales trainings to hold.
Did you achieve your goals? “I’ve internalized them.”
What are some memorable GRAND moments?
The summer job as a Marketer for AIESEC was an experience I shall never forget. Although I was ready to jump right in and make things happen, I didn’t fully realize the responsibility and the extent of learning I was yet to do. The first few weeks were probably the toughest. A few days I wouldn’t have spoken to anyone at work besides Sam or the voicemails of many people. When I would send e-mails, I would constantly be receiving feedback from Grant as well as Carson concerning my professional mannerism and some techniques I must employ to achieve my target.
Newly taking on the responsibility of VP CR/ ICX, I was never doubtful of being able to achieve my goals but I didn’t have the first clue as to how I would achieve them. One of my major responsibilities was to handle red flagged accounts, among them was MapleSoft. I will refrain from the details, but my first meeting with the company alongside Carson was probably the most hostile meeting I’ve been to. We could have easily walked away from this account. But after our last meeting near the end of November, I celebrated like a champion. There is little compared to a feeling where you’ve walked out knowing that a deal is sealed and you are just about to change someone’s life forever.
Where have you been with AIESEC? Where are you headed?
But things soon picked up, and so did the numbers on the performance tracker. When visiting NSSS in Toronto that July 2012, shared with us were tools for CR success. A CEO of a company was speaking to us that day and he was addressing the issues of self-discipline. At a point, he turned to ask me specifically, “You say you are motivated to achieve your goals but our national team has given you all these goals to achieve; are they really yours ?” I raised my hand and said, “I’ve internalized them.” The entire NSSS applauded.
I am yet to travel to any countries with AIESEC (which I plan on changing very soon), however I have spread my global network to Australia, Japan, Germany, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, China, and Spain through my endeavours in finding global CR opportunities, finding the perfect candidate, and coordinating with other AIESEC LCs and MCs. In the coming new year of 2013, I am going to take on a Team Leader position within Corporate Relations. I am committed towards doubling our impact on the lives of students itching for international experience. I am committed to making their international stories a reality and not just a mere fantasy. The incoming EB said it best, “Together, one story at a time.” 15 c
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MEMBER MAP Where have you travelled with AIESEC? 16
Locations AIESEC Members have travelled to
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MEMBER MAP - WESTERN HEMISPH A close up of the places AIESEC members have travelled to within the western hemisphere.
JOCELYN AU
CARSON KOLBERG
Ottawa, Ontario Ontario Atlantic Regional Conference
Toronto, Ontario National President’s Meeting, National Leadership Development Conference
WENDY DIEL Ottawa, Ontario Ontario Atlantic Regional Conference
MICHAEL FRAGISKATOS U.S. Summer National Conference
CAROLINE IP Edmonton, Alberta National Congress
Ottawa, Ontario National Leadership Development Conference, Ontario Atlantic Regional Conference
Easter Islands Recife, Brazil AIESEC Contry
MELANIE SHEN Ottawa, Ontario Ontario Atlantic Regional Conference
Montreal, Quebec National Congress
CATHERINE TONG
Edmonton, Alberta National Congress
Toronto, Ontario National Leadership Development Conference
Calgary, Alberta AIESEC’s Calgary Stampede
ATAL KHANAL
Puerto Rico National Conference
Edmonton, Alberta National Congress
San Jose, Costa Rica Jump Conference
IMAGE SOURCES:
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Guelph, Ontario Atlantic Conference
Vina del Mar, Chile IberoAmerican Leadership Conference
Edmonto, Alberta National Congress
LUCY WENG Ottawa, Ontario Ontario Atlantic Regional Conference
www.flickr.com/photos/rafurao/6230803014 www.flickr.com/photos/fortherock/3898787280 www.flickr.com/photos/reneaufrigon/3910926398 www.flickr.com/photos/badcomputer/4308019944 www.flickr.com/photos/hobolens/6824301119
www.flickr.com/photos/royalrivers/6016782080 www.flickr.com/photos/mononoke/4113643768 www.flickr.com/photos/soutra/5808265378 www.flickr.com/photos/hobolens/6893358803 www.flickr.com/photos/dugspr/4714344831
Ottawa, Ontario
HERE Calgary, Alberta
Montreal, Quebec
Edmonton, Alberta
Guelph, Ontario
Puerto Rico
Toronto, Ontario
San Jose, Costa Rica
Recife, Brazil
Vina del Mar, Chile 19 c
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MEMBER MAP - EASTERN HEMISPHE A close up of the places AIESEC members have travelled to within the eastern hemisphere.
MICHAEL FRAGISKATOS Italy Global Community Development Programme
ISHAAN KUKREJA Hong Kong AIESEC Hong Kong’s Discover 2012 International Conference
Chandigarh, India AIESEC Exchange
Karlsruhe, Germany AIESEC Karlsruhe’s TWIN 2012 Social Entrepreneurship
Jaipur, India June National Conference
WEILING YANG
Shimla, India Summer Regional Conference
Sichuan, China Global Community Development Programme
CARSON KOLBERG
Muscat, Oman AIESEC Country
Karlsruhe Germany Italy
Portuga
Nairobi, Kenya International Congress Prague, Czech Republic European Conference,
Na Ke
Portugal The Art of Story Telling and Improvisation
IMAGE SOURCES:
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www.flickr.com/photos/thetravelguru/6203890442 www.flickr.com/photos/gizmo_bunny/6472456671 www.flickr.com/photos/twang_dunga/8237494912 www.flickr.com/photos/lizwong/3181763138 www.flickr.com/photos/hom26/6647548947
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ERE
e, y
Prague Czech Republic Sichuan, China
al
airobi, enya
Hong Kong
Muscat, Oman
India
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AWARDS OF THE YEAR AIESECer OF THE YEAR CHUNGSOON HAW
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR SALMAN RANA An AIESECer who lives each of the AIESEC values and makes a meaningful contribution of global impact to AIESEC Laurier.
A first year AIESECer (who joined January or later of the given year) who lives each of the AIESEC values.
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AIESEC Laurier Student Population Reach for 2012 : 0.47% - 2% of all Laurier students clicked “Join AIESEC” GA ATTENDEES OF THE YEAR : 270 Incoming Interns of the year: Eoin Mulgrew from Ireland & Iris Wang from China OGX: 100% realization of 12 exchange participants!
Conference Attendances from 2010-2012: 34 to 146 delegates! Rob Cekan, previous Vice President of Talent Management will start working with AIESEC Canada in the upcoming year!
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