PUBLIC MAGAZINE OF BEST
1ST EDITION | 10-2019
WELCO BIENVEN WELK WITA 2
WELCOMING WORDS FROM THE BOARD
OME NUE KOM AMY
Dear Reader, In the current fast-paced world, technology is everywhere, from day to day life to the most advanced activities and discoveries of humanity. A thorough understanding of the possibilities, limitations and developments of these technologies is more and more essential for all members of society. This places students of technology in a key position to shape our world both now and in the future. Their engagement will largely define how we all tackle the global grand challenges of our time. With over 30 years of knowledge and experience, Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) is a network of almost 4000 enthusiastic student volunteers from all over Europe, who believe in contributing to something greater than themselves. Volunteers of BEST dedicate their time for creating quality services meant to develop other technology students around them. In BEST’s services, we focus on bringing together all stakeholders - students, universities and partners - so all together we can create a diverse environment with many different opinions. By promoting critical thinking, intercultural understanding, tolerance, and self-development, we have been contributing to the improvement of European society. I warmly invite you to take a walk through the activities and achievements of this organisation during its 30th year of existence, captured in the pages of this new magazine. Enjoy! Warm regards,
Senne Meeusen President XXXII International Board of BEST
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PUBLIC MAGAZINE OF BEST INTRO Dear Reader, In the previous years we presented the Annual Report of BEST to our members. This year together with the celebration of our 30th anniversary we decided to replace it by Public Magazine of BEST. BEST will be publishing the first issue of its Magazine in its history, hence having a wider range of content than the aforementioned Annual Reports. Thus we will be able to address our stakeholders more easily. This is a step towards extroversion, a step we want to take with our stakeholders, with you. Of course this Magazine wouldn’t have been created without the efforts of many BESTies. I would like to give special thanks to my amazing team that gave their all during the past few months: Proofreaders: Domen Kacin Vodicar, BEST Ljubljana Krystian Matlosz, BEST Wroclaw Content Editor: Emre Eryigit, BEST Isparta Partner Responsible: Vasilis Pipidis, BEST Thessaloniki Designers: Marta Viana, BEST Coimbra Many more editions of this Magazine are about to come and we cannot wait! We hope you enjoy it!
Best wishes,
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Alexander Kadoglou Editor of the Magazine BEST Thessaloniki
CONTENTS
1
Pag. 6
What is BEST?
Pag. 14
5
BEST Symposia on Education
Pag. 19
9
Partner NGOs of BEST
Pag. 25
13
How our members see BEST
Pag. 10
2
BEST Courses
Pag. 15
6
CIEF, an Innovative Service
Pag. 21
10
Conferences we attended
Pag. 31
Pag. 12
3
EBEC Final Turin
Pag. 16
7
Pag. 13
BEST Career Centre
Pag. 18
11
A-STEP 2030
8 sIPF
IT Systems of BEST
Pag. 23
4
Pag. 24
12
Partners
14 Sudoku
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WHAT IS BEST The Board of European Students of Technology, also known as BEST, came to existence in April 1989. It has been 30 years that BEST has been connecting students of technology from all over Europe. Currently, we are composed of 98 Local BEST Groups from 34 countries. BEST has developed itself to be a center for innovation in the educational field and student support, and also organised to work for a million students from the hundred universities that we take part in. BEST works to ensure that students are able to apply their full potential in a culturally diverse environment and, to achieve this, we constantly strive to find new and
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disparate opportunities for the development of students of technology. The focus of the organisation has revolved around three main areas. First, we provide complementary education integrating the one our universities already provide, making knowledge ever closer to the students in need from all over Europe. Our most notable service on this is the organisation of one hundred courses per year, gathering students from several different backgrounds. Secondly, BEST offers itself to be a platform for educational involvement.
To do this, we gather students, academy and industry’s input on how education should be improved so that solutions can be proposed to the higher education institutions. Thirdly and lastly, BEST acts as a network between the industry, academy and students so opportunities of collaboration can be found and also provides career support to our students so they can get closer to their future.
Following the vision of “Empowered diversity”, we provide complementary education through BEST Courses and Competitions, adding value to formal education and creating a unique opportunity to learn through experience. That’s how the mission of our organisation, “Developing students”, reaches its full meaning, by giving students the chance to study and gain both practical knowledge and self-improvement, all in a multicultural environment.
Through international involvement, students lower their cultural barriers and learn to respect and understand different ways of thinking. All of our work is done for students and by students. Through the engagement of our members, we provide services that aim to broaden the horizons of European students of technology.
We always aim for improvement by continuously raising the standards in everything we do. We value friendship through building good personal relations and supporting teamwork. We strive to help students become more internationally minded by learning and having fun in every area we exist. That, however, is not where we stop, since we believe in continuous improvement and growth. And we will for the years to come.
Our actions are inspired by our values. Through flexibility, we are open to quickly Providing BEST services to respond to changes. over 1.000.000 students from all around Europe wouldn’t be possible without highly motivated and devoted BEST members. For us, the members, every single corner of Europe is our home, and we are a huge family. 7
WHAT IS BEST XXXI BOARD - THE LANTERN
Antonia Nanau President
Vicente Frances Molla Secretary
Gábor Érsek Treasurer
Sandra Saarniit Vice-President for Human Resources
Francesca Zacchei Vice-President for Services
Ognjen Lukacevic Vice-President for Projects
Inês Cruz Vice-President for Local Group Support 8
DEPARTMENTS Competitions Department: The purpose of the Competitions Department is to provide support and develop Competitions and its services, according to the needs of BEST, to offer a quality service to our stakeholders. Corporate Relations Department: Corporate Relations Department supports the Treasurer in providing the resources for BEST International in order to work and reach the goals of the organization.The main fundraising projects for CRD are General Meetings & EBEC.
.Informations Technology Department: The Information Technology Department is a body of BEST that listens to the Information Technology (IT) needs of the organisation, develops concepts of IT applications, implements the systems and provides technical resources and services, in order to support the whole organisation in achieving its goals and visions.
Educational Involvement Department: The purpose of the Educational Involvement Department of BEST is to:Increase students’ awareness and involvement on educational matters and gather students’ input on educational matters and disseminate it to relevant Higher Education stakeholders
Training Department: The Training Department aims Design Department: De- that BEST members grow sign Department is here to and contribute to the orgaprovide design materials for nisation in an effective way, the needs of BEST in order to enabling it to reach its goals, maintain and strengthen the by maintaining and developing the training system of image of BEST BEST Public Relations DepartGrants Department: Grants ment: The Public Relations Vivaldi Department: The Department cooperates with Department monitors, builds purpose of the Vivaldi Defunders in order to ensure and maintains the external partment is to supervise and financial support for BEST image of BEST by building support the organisation of through grants. strong relations with media BEST Courses and relevant public.
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BEST
COURSES
WHAT WHAT ARE BEST COURSES?
In these events, participants attend lectures given by the university’s teaching staff BEST Courses are events and/or by experts from comdesigned to provide companies. At the end of the couplementary education to rse, students take an exam, students from different nawhich is designed to evaluate tionalities and backgrounds. the participants’ success. They are attended by 20-30 engineering and technology There are three types of students, who have some- BEST Courses with each a thing in common: they want different focus: BEST Couto live a unique experience, rses on Technology, BEST different from day-to-day Courses on Career Related school life! Skills and BEST Courses on Applied Engineering.
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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A PARTICIPANT? Students attending BEST Courses get a complete view of what the BEST spirit is: it’s all about learning things while meeting new people and travelling around Europe. BEST Courses have a high-quality academic part, and participants often get ECTS credits for attending them.
Apart from the lectures in the mornings, attendants generally discover the city and culture of the organising LBG in leisure and cultural activities during the afternoons. Last but not least, all this learning, discovering new places and partying together generates long lasting friendships that usually end up meeting again‌ somewhere in Europe!
WHAT ARE WE DOING TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE BEST COURSES?
Through Golden Apple, we aim to increase the quality of courses by promoting a better organization of BEST Courses from academic, loEvery year we try to improve gistical and social perspecthe quality of BEST Courses tives. thanks to our Golden Apple project and Mentors Working At the same time, we have group. Golden Apple is a pro- a Mentoring System, where ject organized as an award experienced people (Mensystem where the courses tors) are provided to Local are evaluated by the fulfill- BEST Groups to work closely with them and help in ment of 14 achievements. everything they need, as well as lead them towards a successful course.
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EBEC
FINAL TURIN
If I were to sum up somehow my experience during these 2 weeks, I would say: it was exhausting and I never had to move out of my comfort zone more than during these days. But at the same time never have I ever been so happy and satisfied with the results of my work nor have I remember when during the 1st day of competition I decided I ever bonded so much with to join Case Study presentation of ABB task - and let me tell other people, to the point you, that was one of the most emotional parts of this event that thinking about them as for me. To finally realise that all the hard work done by us, by ‘friends’ was not enough for BESTies, lead to this exact moment, these 5 minutes of preme. I can easily say that it sentation, the most unforgettable presentation I have ever was the BEST time of my life! seen, prepared in a few hours, under unimaginable pressure. 83 local rounds, 14 national and regional rounds and one week of competition. All of it to meet with the best engineering students from all over Europe. We had a chance to witness 100 participants competing with teams from different countries in 4 Case Study and 2 Team Design tasks. Not to mention more than 50 BESTies working in order to make this event happen during the competition, running between different tasks and simply putting the happiness of our participants as our top priority.
Watching both the Polish Team in Team Design and the Russian Team in Case Study, achieving the best performace that gave them the first place in their respective category, was breathtaking.
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Monika Dziembowska EBEC Programme 2019 Coordinator
BEST CAREER CENTRE
WHAT IS BCC EXACTLY? WHAT ARE THE PURPOSES OF THIS PROJECT?
The service has 3 diferentes parts:
Dissemination - BEST Career Centre allows the dissemination of career and study opportunities, as well as special programmes, through specific target groups. It consists in the caThe BEST Career Centre is reer section of BEST’s official website and the newsletter sent an online career-oriented set to subscribers - complemented by social media promotion. of tools. Through the BEST CV database - Through BEST website, students get the Career Centre, internatioopportunity to fill in their profile and CV, which can aftenally minded technology and rwards be used both to apply to offers and for when comengineering students and repanies look for potential candidates. cent graduates get the chance to interact with their future Webinar - Using an online platform, these online live events employers, both universities are scheduled and conducted by partners. Webinars are esand companies. This service sentially a seminar or workshop held over the Internet, and takes full advantage of digi- they can be a presentation, discussion, demonstration, or tal means to support com- another instructional session. panies and universities in The purpose of the programme is to maintain and develop sharing and promoting their the service doing operational and developing work. programmes near their desired target group.
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BEST SYMPOSIA
ON EDUCATION
BEST Symposia on Education (BSEs) were created to involve European STEM students in the process of educational improvement and raise their awareness about the possibility of being involved in their education. Together with the other stakeholders involved directly or indirectly in educational matters, students participate in discussions around a broad research topic, proposed by BEST each year. Their input and ideas are gathered in a scientific report that is further disseminated towards higher education stakeholders and policymakers. There are four BSEs each year, that invite 20-25 students to discussions and working sessions, prepared and facilitated by the Educational Involvement Department of BEST. The solutions created during these events represent the students’ perspective on the issues identified prior to the BSEs, in a European survey launched by BEST towards STEM students. Thus, BSEs are part of a more complex process of educational research, ensuring the quality and uniqueness of the service.
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CIEF
AN INNOVATIVE SERVICE
CIEF (Coimbra International Engineering Forum) is the first edition of an engineering forum held in Coimbra. It aims to encourage the University of Coimbra to connect with students from different cultures, namely students from CPLP, Europe and China, using Engineering, Science and Technologies to solve a worldwide problem. It will be an 11 day event, where the main focus is the forum. The forum will be an ongoing activity, with talks, pitches from experienced and influence people on this topics to bring awareness, create discussion on our public. Also, we can have more activities (like, cleaning beaches, planting trees) depending on the main sponsor. All of this will be open to all community. The second focus is the competition. where our participants will use science and technology to solve them. Apart from this, we want to have social and cultural activities, to show the traditions of Coimbra and create a special connection between the paxs.
The participants of this event will have to solve a problem that affects the world population at the present. This problem will focus on environmental, social and humanitarian topics. At the end of the Forum, it is intended to continue in the post-event to implement the winning solution in the real world. We are also looking to offer a fair with expositions and explanations of new ways and devices to tackle environmental problems.
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IT SYSTEMS OF BEST
BEST relies on relatively complex IT systems to provide its services and fulfill its needs. These range from our own mail servers to the application system, which allows thousands of applications to be sent and received to seasonal courses, career events etc. Additionally, BEST has a very extensive intranet, called Private Area (PA), which further supports internal communication and knowledge management within the organisation. The development of BEST’s intranet dates back to the mid-90s and was developed exclusively by members of BEST and is still maintained by them exclusively. The framework used for the IT systems of BEST is called “Makumba” and was developed and tailored to our cause only: software development in amateur communities. 16
This was started about 20 years ago and its development was and still is led by the founder of the Information Technology body of BEST (former Information Technology Committee), named Cristian Bogdan. He is currently a professor at the KTH university in Stockholm and even now continuously supports the development of Makumba and its usage in BEST. The main purpose of this Java-based framework is to facilitate the access to the database to the extent that someone with no major coding knowledge can easily understand, learn it and start developing not much after. This was needed due to the high turnover and short average lifespan of members within the organisation.
Private Area is, in its essence, the link between all online tools of the organisation. When it comes to documentation for knowledge management, PA contains the Document Archives and the Wiki. With these two tools, all the written knowledge of the organisation is properly stored and available for generations to come. As of other essential tools for the organisation’s management, PA holds an integrated HR Tool, Task Manager, Positions Tracker and International Projects Platform which are facilitating the Human Resources Management of the organisation. These tools allow the bodies of BEST to easily overview and update involvement of members. Next to this, the Private Area also contains the Training Database which tracks all trainers and delivered training sessions with their participants.
Besides the operational tools, Private Area also holds one more important tool which is the Virtual International plenary (VIP). VIP is a non-presential international decision-making body, working virtually. Its concept was born in 2007 and approved in 2009 as an official decision body of BEST. VIP consists of a mailing list, an online forum and a voting system, and is supported by document archives and wiki pages. It is the place where BEST gets the chance to discuss and take decisions online. It is also meant for gathering feedback from LBGs on the work of the international teams or any other “hot� topics. Lastly, it also works as a constant sharing platform, where international bodies have a solution for constant two-way communication with LBGs.
Private Area has undergone many development and design phases culminating in its current version which was updated in September 2019. Its usability is constantly being improved and new features and tools are systematically planned, designed, implemented and launched. On the other hand, the Public Website of BEST (BEST. eu.org) serves as the primary platform for students to interact with the services we provide. Due to this role, and the current trends in the web development, adjusting the website to the needs of our stakeholders is one of the priorities of the organisation. The current website design was released in 2015 and its main purpose was for the website to improve the user experience.
This was achieved by organising the information on the website in a more intuitive fashion and by making optimisations to increase the loading speed so that the browsing experience would be as smooth as possible. As of the year 2019, a new project is ongoing in order to give the website a fresher look, so it would keep up with the development of BEST and its services. Its main goal is to do a complete review, analyse what needs to be updated, changed or removed and start the process of implementation.
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SIPF Summer International Projects Forum (SIPF for short) is an annual kickstarter event for BEST. For 5 days, BESTies all around Europe gather and discuss together about the upcoming year. The discussions include the work and purpose of our projects, the improvement of existing projects and the creation of new projects that aim to develop the organization and our services. There are also sessions about the Annual Action Plan of BEST and the Strategies that BEST will follow for the upcoming years. This summer, SIPF was hosted and organized by BEST Almada.
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PARTNER NGOS OF BEST
AEGEE: AEGEE is one of BONDING: bonding is a CFES: The Canadian Fe-
Europe’s biggest interdisciplinary student organisations, striving for a democratic, diverse and borderless Europe. As a non-governmental, politically independent, and non-profit organisation AEGEE is open to students and young people from all faculties and disciplines. Founded in 1985 in Paris, today AEGEE has grown to a Network of 13 000 AEGEEans, present in 161 cities in 40 countries all over Europe. Through their activities, they empower students and young people in Europe to take an active role in society. They create a space for dialogue and learning opportunities as well as act as their representative towards decision-makers. AEGEE strengthens mutual understanding among young Europeans and brings Europe closer to young people.
German student association focused on providing undergraduates as well as graduate students insights into the working life and give opportunities to get in touch with employers of all kinds. A wide portfolio of events – all being free of charge for students – enables them to pursue these goals. For instance: they form the market leader for job fairs, in Germany. You can find a bonding local group at thirteen university cities, mostly technical universities, in Germany. As a registered association all their members work on a voluntary basis and as mentioned their services are offered to fellow students for free.
deration of Engineering Students is a bilingual national student organization representing Canadian engineering students. Their goal is to enhance the student experience through opportunities fostering the development of leadership, professional and ethical qualities, engineering identity, technical proficiency, and communication. Each year, they host a number of annual engineering conferences to foster leadership and networking, engineering competitions to inspire innovation and work with external partners to provide education and outreach opportunities.
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PARTNER NGOS OF BEST
ESTIEM: ESTIEM is the or- EESTEC: Electrical Engi-
ganisation for IEM students who combine technological understanding with management skills. Founded in 1990, their goal is to foster relations between IEM students and support their development. They are striving for each IEM Student to have a connection not only with other students all over Europe of the same field but also to other companies and universities, to ensure each student as a voice as well as the opportunity to make a difference, and to allow each outstanding innovative idea to become reality.
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neering STudents’ European assoCiation is an apolitical, non-governmental and non-profit organization for EECS students at universities, institutes and schools of technology. EESTEC aims to develop international contacts and to encourage the exchange of ideas among EECS students through professional workshops, cultural student exchanges and publications. With various activities that EESTEC provides, it creates opportunities for students to develop in their academic, professional and social lives.
CONFERENCES WE ATTENDED
IFISO AUTUMN MEETING 2019 BRUSSELS:
ESTIEM COUNCIL MEETING 2019 FAMAGUSTA:
AEGEE AUTUMN AGORA SALERNO 2019:
The Informal Forum for International Students Organisations (IFISO) is a non-political and non-profit forum for international organisations run by students and working for the benefit of students in different fields of studies. The purpose of this forum is to offer these NGOs an opportunity to network, to share knowledge and to encourage pursuing new possible collaborations. This meeting was hosted by EPSA (European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association) in their house in Brussels. Among other things, we talked about external donations, about mental health and about the future of IFISO.
BEST was represented during ESTIEM’s Autumn Council Meeting (their general meeting) in Famagusta, Cyprus. It was great to experience first-hand how similar BEST and ESTIEM are in terms of aims, methods, structure and spirit. We took the opportunity to do some knowledge sharing, and we had many discussions about how we could both benefit from taking our cooperation to the next level.
BEST was represented during AEGEE’s Autumn Agora (their general meeting) in Salerno, Italy. The Autumn Agora is an event typically gathering around 900 attendees. This was a great opportunity to discover more about what our friends from AEGEE are doing, for example regarding their “Structural Measures Against Sexual Harassment”or SMASH- project. We also talked about what the cooperation between BEST and AEGEE could bring next.
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CONFERENCES WE ATTENDED
BONDING JOB FAIR AACHEN 2019: We helped out one of the local groups of bonding in Aachen with their job fair. Aachen provides one of the biggest job fair in bonding with around 350 companies and an over 3 days long event. Coordinating and organizing such a big event takes them around a year and is their biggest achievement. The money won flows into the share bank account of bonding.
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CFES CANADIAN ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP Conference (CELC) 2020: will be taking place January 2-7 in Edmonton, Alberta, hosted by the Alberta University.. This meeting serves as the Annual General Meeting of the CFES, it is their largest event with the aim of providing a platform for students to collaborate and learn from their industry partners, sponsors and fellow students. Furthermore, CELC provides the setting of an International Summit with the rest of their International Partners.
A-STEP
Attracting diverSe Talent to the Engineering Professions of 2030 (A-STEP 2030) is a strategic partnership between ENSTA Bretagne, Helsinki Metropolitan University, Aalborg University, Technical University Dublin, SEFI (European Society for Engineering Education), Universum and BEST, funded by Erasmus+.
2030
BEST as one of the largest networks of European students of engineering is there to involve European students in the project. We provide students’ opinions by organizing events and focus groups and disseminate the projects’ outcomes. BEST has been involved in several tasks and activities so far, and in 2020 we will organize multiple BEST Local Events as part of this project.
The goal of A-STEP 2030 is to create an attractive and fascinating learning environment, which would encourage young people with diverse backgrounds to study engineering, and become engineers of the more sustainable future, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN.
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PARTNERS P&G P&G was founded over 180 years ago as a simple soap and candle enterprise. Today, we’re the world’s largest consumer goods company and home to iconic, trusted brands such as Gillette, Old Spice, Pantene, Oral-B, Pampers, Always, Lenor, Vizir and many more.
ATOS
Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with over 110,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of over € 11 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group has many technical fields of expertise such as AI, Robotics, Green IT orBig P&G has a philosophy of Data. The group operates “build from within”, which under the brands Atos, Atos means that we hire primarily Syntel, and Unify. students or early graduates, whom we offer a varied and The purpose of Atos is to help long-term career within our design the future of the incompany on managerial or formation technology space. specialist roles, both in busi- Our expertise and services ness functions and our ma- support the development of nufacturing plants. knowledge, education as well as multicultural and pluralisWe are happy to regularly tic approaches to research participate with BEST on a that contribute to scientific variety of projects. These inand technological excellence. clude workshops, trainings, lectures, job fairs, integration It has been a pleasure to inevents and working closely teract with the BEST students with our BEST student am- in a variety of events, from bassadors across university our workshop about procampuses. It’s always a ple- cessing satellite images whiasure to cooperate and en- ch we held in Krakow to the gage with members of BEST EBEC finals and Career fair throughout various initiati- in Torino. Now we are looking ves. They represent a smart, forward to organize a wefun and creative group of binar around Cybersecurity students, and we are happy (and beyond!). to regularly welcome the members of BEST as P&G employees. 24
We thoroughly enjoyed sharing our knowledge and expertise and also to take our thinking forward by interesting participating with the BEST students, who we view as bright, ambitious and innovative. Information Technology is a n ever changing sector and we recruit a few thousands of graduates each year to provide the business technology that powers progress for our clients worldwide. We would like you to join on our Digital Journey!
HOW OUR MEMBERS SEE BEST Elif Yildiran, Public Relations Department Coordinator 2019-2020
“It’s been 4 years now, I’ve been to almost 10 countries, made amazing memories, learned a lot, experienced a lot, failed a lot and never regret a thing” What is the most unforgettable moment you had in BEST?
What made you stay in BEST and evolve inside the organisation?
During my second year in BEST, I was PR Coordinator in the board of my Local BEST Group and we were hosting a Regional Meeting. During that event, I was a perticipant which required for me to be active in sessions from early in the morning till late at night but also, as a boardie, I was helping organizers to clean up the place. I was only sleeping an hour per day if I was really lucky. At some point, I didn’t even have a place to sleep and I had to sleep on the table with my friend who help me with organizing the tables for the next that. Those moments reminds me when you have your friends to trust, you manage anything.
When I first joined BEST, I was so amazed by the world that people created here. This organization has a culture, it has its own language. To me, it was something new to discover. I knew what I wanted to learn and this place seem to be a good place to do so and it also give me an opportunity to travel to places I’ve never even heard of before, who wouldn’t like that? It’s been 4 years now, I’ve been to almost 10 countries, made amazing memories, learned a lot, experienced a lot, failed a lot and never regret a thing.
What is your favourite thing in BEST? Definitely the people! I’ve met hundreds of people here and all of them have been very supporting for me, for my goals and every idea that I wanted to implement on this organization. I love working with likeminded people, improving together, creating together. It takes time and energy but when you see the end result after working with your best friends for a long time, you realize it worth every drop of effort you’ve put in.
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HOW OUR MEMBERS SEE BEST What is the most unforgettable moment you had in BEST?
Agnieszka Tuznik President of BEST Krakow 2019-2020
“BEST is pushing the limits. BEST makes you do things that you would not ever think you are capable of�
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Even though this question makes me think of all these people I met and amazing things I experienced throughout my BEST journey, there is one short moment which especially stuck in mind and I believe will stay with me forever. Having the opportunity to organise General Meeting, probably I will not surprise anyone by devoting this section to this event. I could bore you with a bunch of funny or touching stories that happened there but the one that has a special meaning to me was a Closing Session of GA Krakow. It was around 3 AM in the night and I can easily recall tired faces of both organisers and participants, who together managed to reach this point. Many decisions had been made that day and a new board had been chosen, so there was already an amazing atmosphere. Thus, it is hard to describe my feelings when together with my CT and LBG we were asked to the plenary, received great thanks and I could personally thank everyone that made this event real. At that moment I was both relieved and sad that it is over but most of all I felt extremely
proud of my team, LBG and the work we did. Although preparation was not an easy process and we faced many obstacles, looking at the delegates and knowing how amazing memories they created there, I knew that it was all worth it. What made you stay in BEST and evolve inside the organisation? The most obvious answer which comes to my mind is people! I believe that all of us would agree that Besties are the true source of inspiration, endless support in all areas of life and if not for the people we met on our way we would not be at the same place right now. Speaking more personally, I think I always had an unstoppable urge to develop and that is why I joined BEST and took up first responsibilities. With every task I did, every journey I had, I started to discover my skills, overcoming my fears and I was realizing how great opportunities are at my fingertips. Then I simply got addicted to the irreplaceable feeling of fulfilment which I felt whenever I managed to do my job. That combined with the atmosphere created by BEST society is what made go through all of my ups&downs and fully involve.
What is your thing in BEST?
favourite
Deciding on one thing which I could call my favourite is more complicated than I expected! I would say that what in general I value the most about BEST is pushing the limits. BEST makes you do things that you would not ever think you are capable of, no matter whether it is taking a huge responsibility, sleeping for a three hours week in a row or travelling to the other side of Europe and opening up for a new culture and different people. It is wonderful because it is not easy, it makes you question your reasons and sense of doing all of that but in the end, you never regret anything. After a year or two when you take a look back at what happened, how many things have changed, you realize how you horizons have broaden and that it is a result of these serious or even small things that BEST made you do.
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HOW OUR MEMBERS SEE BEST Senne Meeusen President of BEST 2019-2020
“It is kind of crazy that students from 34 countries decide to get together and enact positive change on their environment”
What is the most unforgettable moment you had in BEST?
What made you stay in BEST and evolve inside the organisation?
My first Presidents’ Meeting, where I as a 19 year-old “nobody” got given the chance to stand up for issues that I believed in. No matter my inexperience or my lack of connections, all attendees listened and took me serious. This kind of environment doesn’t exist in most other places.
The potential we have as a group of over 3000 people to impact young people all over Europe, either by directly providing them with experiences or by influencing their academic and professional environment. It is kind of crazy that students from 34 countries decide to get together and enact positive change on their environment. Wanting to be part of that change is what kept me looking for new challenges in BEST.
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What is your favourite thing in BEST? The power of our LBGs. There are quite some rules to comply with, but still there are some LBGs that manage to do great, innovative things, or LBGs who don’t hesitate to question the rules or the leadership of BEST when needed, without losing sight of our vision and identity.
Kai Poellot Soft Skills Trainer
“For every single challenge, there’s always a helping hand which guides the way and provides support in case of difficulties” What is the most unforgettable moment you had in BEST? There’s such a long list of moments that are unforgettable, I think it’s impossible to find the biggest one. One of the biggest moments was holding a presentation in the plenary of GA Wroclaw in 2017 when Erlangen was proposed for suspension. I still felt really inexperienced, didn’t know a lot about BEST international and was freaking out a little
before speaking in front of the massive audience. Another moment was when I just finished my first training session after coming from TRAP. It was a kickoff for our local EBEC team which was full of relatively inexperienced members who did not know each other that well before. Designing an experience for them to bond as a team, align their vision, and just kicking off the project was an incredibly satisfying experience. I wasn’t so sure if the role of a trainer was the right thing for me. Yet in that moment afterwards, seeing how happy and deeply moved the team was, I was just overwhelmed by pride and knew - this is it! What made you stay in BEST and evolve inside the organisation? I joined BEST after attending an absolutely amazing course in Trondheim in 2014. Again there’s tons of reasons that made me stay in BEST, though arguably the biggest one was the endless number or opportunities to develop and grow personally. No matter your level of experience or background, there’s always a next step, a higher goal you can aim for which gets you out of your comfort zone again. And for every
single challenge, there’s always a helping hand which guides the way and provides support in case of difficulties. What is your thing in BEST?
favourite
The BEST spirit of working hard and playing hard. It’s to me so fascinating and inspiring to see what kind of working, training, party (...) culture we were able to establish. We - random students who just spend some hours each week next to studying, working and other responsibilities. Always aiming for higher goals, continuously challenging ourselves, getting shit done, focusing on effectiveness while at the same time partying like mad, getting to know tons of people, not taking ourselves too serious and just having this warm, open tolerant culture.
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HOW OUR MEMBERS SEE BEST Francesca Zacchei Vice President for Services 2018-2019
“Meeting a quite different culture opened my mind and introduced me to a beautiful world called diversity� What is the most unforgettable moment you had in BEST?
What made you stay in BEST and evolve inside the organisation?
My first BEST Course abroad. People. For sure there are many more moments that were milestones during all these years in BEST, but my first BEST Course in Moscow during Spring 16 was an event that I will never forget. There, I met people with whom I was linked the most in my BEST path. It was an experience that changed completely my life point of view since I realized how geographically Europe can be boardless. Furthermore, meeting a quite different culture opened my mind and introduced me to a beautiful world called diversity, a diversity that I appreciate and empower at its maximum. 30
I had the opportunity to be a local participant during the BEST Course in Autumn 15 organised by the Local BEST Group in my university (BEST Rome). During this event, I met a lot of people that made me feel at home. Since I entered BEST Rome, I felt like part of a very big family that shares the same aims and purposes. This feeling started 4 years ago but it never left me during my BEST path.
What is your favourite thing in BEST? BEST purpose. BEST develops activities in order to help European Students of Technology to become more internationally minded, by reaching a better understanding of European cultures and developing the capacity to work on an international basis. BEST is a European network that can create infinite new opportunities for all the European Students of Technology in matters concerning them and their education, but also extending their knowledge in fields significant to their future professions. All of this is very powerful and mind-blowing. It is very impressive to understand the ability we can have to change millions of lives just with what we do and how we do it.
SUDOKU
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