Hi everybody!

My name is Lieke Haan, I am 20 years old and I’m in my second year of MKDA. Currently I am in Florence with the course Buitenlandse Excursie, so I am writing this blog from the garden while I am sitting in the sun to tell you something about the board year I did. This year I was a member of the Faculty Student Council. I noticed that there is very little interest in doing a board year in our faculty, for example at a study association or at the Faculty Student Council. So I thought it would be interesting and fun to tell you something about my experiences.

I was this year’s secretary, or I should say I AM the secretary because a board year lasts from september to september, so a whole study year. For me, this meant checking the Council’s mailbox on a daily base, plan meetings with the council but also with other organs from the faculty such as the Faculty Board, compose agenda’s and make sure everyone knows what is going on. So I get to plan and order a lot, which I like!
For everyone who doesn’t know what the Faculty Student Council does, I will briefly explain this. The Faculty Student Council represents all students from the Humanities faculty. We do this by having meetings with all kinds of people but we also organise fun things such as borrels! What is very convenient as a Student Council is that you can arrange things very quickly. For example: we noticed this year that there were a lot of complaints about the information about the free semester in the third year, so we managed to organise an information meeting to provide information about all options for this semester. A lot of people showed up and it was a successful meeting!

Since it is now hopefully a bit clearer what the Faculty Student Council does, you might ask yourself how this board year is useful for the study MKDA. Besides the fact that you get to hear new things and information about your study as one of the first people, you also actually make decisions about your study. I also gained some skills this year I can apply during my studies such as very fast typing (very handy during courses with fast speaking teachers!!), presenting for big groups and learning how to handle several digital platforms of the VU. For me, the biggest plus is getting to know a lot of people at the university and within the faculty so you can arrange things very quick instead of via the standard VUforms. If you are in doubt whether you would like to do a board year, in whatever what kind of form, I would definitely recommend it! Besides the fact that you learn a lot, you also gain a lot of friends and new contacts, below are some photo’s for some impressions. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask me!

See you! Lieke