January | 29th Board

And here we are, nothing changed except for the numbers of the year 😉 This year I had a new way of starting my year… The year started for me in quarantine, unfortunately. Luckily for me, or not, uni was online as well so not much that I’ve missed. But we are back and next course, we will be at uni again! Let’s see what happened last month. It was not a busy month with events although we had 3 of them. Starting off with the Wellbeing Smoothie Workshop in which we had delicious smoothies and a relaxing yoga workshop. Since online events are harder to organise, I am very proud of the Wellbeing Taskforce. A few days later we walked through the city centre with the Activities Committee, of course with hot chocolate and cookies! It was nice to walk with our members, get to know them and be a little active during this period of lockdown. And then the pool tournament, also here, a lot of new people showed up which I really liked. It is one of the things in my board year that I like the most, meeting new people. 

The fact that there were not as many events, as usual, does not mean we were not busy. This month was filled with evaluations, the Half Year report, the Articles of Association and the Internal Regulations. Together with Heleen, I checked the Articles of Association and the Internal Regulations and while Heleen was busy with all the adjustments, I could go on with all the evaluations that needed to be done. All the committees are evaluated, as well as the Board as a group and each Board Member individually. Very important to do and we have some new goals to work on! Besides the preparations for the Half Year GA started so time to make the agenda and PowerPoint. 

Oh and one of the most important things! We started looking for our Candidate Board, how exciting! Flashbacks to my own CB period, which was intense but so so so nice. I am looking forward to working together with CB. And to bond together as much as we do with our Old Board with whom we went a weekend to Belgium together. Also, this was so much fun! And last but not least, what an amazing job did the Excursion Committee! Excursion sold out in only 19 minutes. I am looking forward to seeing you all in Budapest. But hope to see you all first in the Helix Room again in February!

In the past month, there have not been a lot of events, unfortunately. However, this definitely does not mean that behind the scenes I was not busy. Upcoming General Assembly, we will discuss the Half Year Report, which I had to contribute to and I was responsible for the final product which could be sent to the members. Moreover, I have also been busy reviewing the Internal Regulations and the Articles of Association. As a result, I had to make multiple motions for the upcoming General Assembly and the one after that, for our members to vote on so we can change a few things.

The events that did take place were very fun and successful in my opinion. The Smoothie & Yoga Workshop was very relaxing and the City Walk was cold but fun. The two girls Mara and I were in a group with were very kind and it was fun getting to know them while walking through the city centre! In January, the Sports Committee also organised a new Pool Tournament to finally find out who the SA Helix Pool Champions would be after the first Pool Tournament in November had to be cancelled.

During the last month, not a lot of Helix events took place, unfortunately. We started looking for a candidate board, which is exciting and confronting at the same time. It reminded me of my own time when we were still CB. Speaking of that, in the second week of January, we rented a house in the Belgian mountains with our old board and even two people from our old old board. It was a really fun weekend and we bonded with each other even more. After that our Blue Monday event took place, which for sure brought some light into the day. My god, do I need Spring… Also, the Activities Committee organised a very nice city walk in which we saw some hidden treasures in the city. Moreover, I am looking forward to the Pool tournament the Sports Committee is organising on the last day of this month.

Behind the scenes, I have been busy with some accounting and arranging new sponsors. I arranged one new deal and I am still in contact with a few other companies. 

But now the most exciting news, January is also the month that the tickets for the yearly excursion went up for sale. I was soooo nervous, but in the end, this was not needed at all. Sold out in 19 minutes! Wow. I am very proud of my lovely Excursion Committee. For those who are joining the excursion; my committee can assure you that this is going to be the trip of your life! 

In January we, unfortunately, had to deal with many Covid-19 restrictions again. Because of this, the COP was cancelled and we were not able to organise many in-person events. On Blue Monday a wellbeing event was planned but was moved to online due to the restrictions. Even though it was online, the event was really successful and well prepared by the Wellbeing Taskforce and quite some people signed up for it. 

However, January was a full month filled with writing the half-year report and doing evaluations with the board and all the committees. Also, the Promo Committee had a busy month with making many posters for all upcoming events. The Excursion has finally been promoted, and sold out 20 minutes after! Also in February, bigger events will be announced, so make sure to keep an eye on our social media. Also, the search for our successors has been opened. We presented all board positions on our social media with a post and a day-in-the-life-of vlog on our Instagram stories. In February, the board drinks will take and we hope to welcome a lot of interested people. In January we also went to the Belgian Ardennes with the 28th Board and 2 Board members from the 27th Board. This weekend was lots of fun and we bonded with the old Boards. This is certainly one of the perks of being a Helix Board member! 

Lastly, in January also the online Experience Day took place. I represented Helix on the online platform and informed future students with a short presentation about our association. In February I will attend another Experience Day and the Bachelor Open Day, I hope to make many people enthusiastic about becoming a member.

January has been the evaluation month. The second set of all SEP reports have been sent out and the evaluations within the SEP took place. You can find these in the Half Year Report. For SEP2 the electives will start and I have planned a meeting to introduce the new members to the working method. Furthermore, I have had coordinator meetings and meetings with the student council. With SC we have started working on events for the NPO budget to improve student wellbeing. I have also been working on the Helix TikTok. I have been working on the finalization of the brainstorm event. Lastly, I have done a really interesting interview for our newsletter and gone to some nice events.