When I joined AIESEC in UAntwerp 2,5 years ago, I started as a member in the marketing team. I learned more about social media and digital marketing, internal communication and how to organize events. I also became more comfortable in public speaking, doing aula speeches and talking to strangers at our marketing activities. After being part of another marketing team one year later, I decided to apply to become Team Leader myself. I got the position and a little later I had my own team of four amazing members, whom I led for the past couple of months. We were responsible for helping Exchange Participants to apply for a project, and guiding them before and during their experience abroad.
Besides that, we also had to organize an event and make promotion for our Global Volunteer project. This was quite challenging and new. I had never been responsible for an event myself, and most of my members had only recently joined our organization and still had to learn a lot. I tried to make them as enthusiastic about AIESEC as I am, make them experience new things and develop themselves. I loved to lead my own team, and to see them grow similarly like I did as a member.
I loved to lead my own team, and to see them grow similarly like I did as a member.
Around October, I decided to apply for the position of Vice-President.
Taking up a new experience and applying for a higher position is always exciting, challenging and a bit scary, but in AIESEC I had people who believe in me. I don’t think I would have applied for Team Leader or Vice-President if my own Team Leader, Vice-President and other AIESEC’ers wouldn’t have believed in me and pushed me a little to do so. I also learned that you’re never totally ready to take a new step, because there are always things that you can still learn and that you don’t know yet. It’s always a bit a leap of faith, but in the end you learn so much out of it.
in AIESEC I had people who believe in me.
Honestly, I can say that joining AIESEC was the best decision I made in the 2,5 years that I’ve been studying. Becoming a member gave me the chance to meet new friends, gave me something useful to do in my spare hours in between classes, and learned me a lot about working in a professional and international environment. It’s now much more to me than just something to fill up my time instead of studying, and I’m really glad I heard about this organization when I started University.
— Charlotte Opsomer.
Vice-President Marketing in AIESEC in UAntwerp (2019)
You want to live a similar experience to Charlotte? AIESEC is recruiting new members! Check out more here: aiesec.org/membership
