S.A. Essence Board Blog

Good day to all Essence members and readers that have stumbled onto this page of the Essence blog. A fantastic idea from one of the social media team members came to the board to write a blog post about the functions and infrastructure within the highest-ranking functions of S.A. Essence.

The board consists of four functions: the Chairperson, the Secretary, the Event Manager, and last but not least, the Treasurer. Together they oversee the Study Association, responsible for its members and the hosted events. Next, the board is also the contact source for Avans, Sponsors, and other Study Associations. More information about the specific responsibilities per function can be found under the “about us” tab.

About us

The current board members are four second-year ESSET students from different nationalities. The Chairman: Vigo van der Heijden from the Netherlands, the Secretary: Valeria Schwartz from Chile, the Event manager: Remko Pape from Denmark, and the Treasurer Nisalyna Bontiff from Sint Maarten. At the end of the previous academic year, these four students were offered the job as board members. The new board was committed to breaking through the limitations of 20/21. We all know our good friend Covid, who has created an absolute pathetic year that also had enormous consequences for S.A. Essence and our freedom to organize events. That is why the board of 21/22 was determined to create fun and diverse events throughout the academic year. Becoming a board member brings responsibility and expectations. This is also why one would join the board, learn, understand, and adapt during the year of managing Essence.

Essence board members follow a different pattern compared to board members of other study associations. Every function within the board has a term of one year due to the famous internship in the third year that ESSET students get to follow. This internship is required to be abroad, resulting in a complete change of staff within the Essence ranks every year. The current board of 21/22 is up now to move out for internships. At the time of writing this blog, the board is busy looking for enthusiastic first-year students that would like to continue the story of Essence next academic year.

Personal benefits from being a board member include, but are not limited to: a fun experience, coping with responsibility and expectations, excellent networking opportunities, developing organizational and decision-making skills, and much more. The board is a team and acts as a team. Next to having the personal growth opportunities, the title of a board member of a study association also makes a great reference on one’s CV.

A year of being a board member also gives you a good gut feeling about whether you will aspire to a board function later on in your professional life. At the start of the academic year, we did not know exactly what we were getting ourselves into. It felt like jumping into the deep end, facing the beginning of a crazy adventure full of expectations and challenges to overcome. Challenges that require motivation and determination to pull through, but the task is done with a team that pushes each other forward.