May | 33rd Board

Although the Board year technically ends in mid-June, April and May truly are the last months where we do anything outside of training our Candidate Board. As such, we’ve mostly been focused on finalising our term - making sure the realisation is correct, tying up any loose ends, making preparations for the Candidate Board to take over…

We might not have been as visible recently as we would’ve liked to be, but we did get a lot done behind the scenes! Aside from that, we’ve been planning some end-of-year activities to thank our members and a really cool party at CAVO, in collaboration with some of our wonderful MBS students 🙂

We want to thank you all for listening to us ramble throughout this year, and we wish the best of luck to the upcoming 34th BoaHello hello hello Christine! (watch RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11, episode 8 for reference)

I hope everyone is doing well! You’ll probably guess it but I am still working on my internship (very surprising news…). It is still confusing, but I am starting to find my way through it, which is good 😊

May started with our trip to BERLIN!! And it was lovely! It was very warm and the trip there was a bit long. But that is nothing a Nintendo 3DS or switch can’t help with. The hotel was really nice and had its own common kitchen so we could cook on some nights and save ourselves from paying a restaurant.

On the first day, I did a boat tour although taking pictures was not practical with the amount of people on it. I did save some areas I wanted to visit on google maps thanks to it. We walked around a few landmarks and ended up in an art flea market. It had such beautiful art, I had to buy something! We also visited another flea market where I got myself green glasses hehe. I will cut it a bit short otherwise this will be quite long, but the second day we went to the Gardens of the world and it was very fun and beautiful! I highly recommend visiting. Some went out during nights but I stayed in for game nights which was fun! Although now that I think of it, I really need to go back to experience the clubs there. Overall, I would say it was very nice, we were in a small committee and it was very convivial!

Unfortunately, the trip had to end and back it was to working on university and the internship. Overall, I have been quite loaded with my internship and honestly quite stressed haha. I did try to destress by playing small video games here and there. One that I used to play on the Wii and now have on my switch “my sims” and another I recently discovered called “Sheepy: A Short Adventure”. The latter I recommend as it is free on steam and honestly it is very cute. Give it a look if you like platformers mixing cute and dark at the same time!

I’ll see you all at the Changing GA coming up soon!

Hi all,

May was a month of running around aimlessly, trying to get everything done. With the end of the academic year coming up, the University is doing everything to make sure the start of the next one goes well - but I won’t be Board anymore by then, so I’m constantly forwarding emails and trying to get responses from other people to make sure everything goes smoothly. It’s chaotic, but it works (somehow).

I’m trying to get everything I left on the backburner done before the end of my term. Like the website, which I made some nice progress on before a bug deleted all of it…? Oh well. It’ll be an easy fix, probably. We’re also working on the Changing GA, so my tasks there are to write my sections of the End of Year Report and finish the minutes from the last GA. All of that combined with training my lovely successors and my internship has been a lot, but we’re managing!

I loved my Board year, but I really am excited for it to be over & to see what Shravyaa and Sabine do next year. Of course, I’m excited for the entire 34th Board, but hey, my positions will always be special to me ;)

Always yours (but maybe with a little break in-between),
Nalin <3

This is the very last monthly update you’ll be reading from me, because on June 18, I’m retiring. >br>
It’s going to feel a little strange not to have weekly meetings and Helix events several times a month anymore. This year I’ve learned a lot, and above all, I’ve gained a lot of experience! It was difficult, emotionally charged, stressful… but I’ve never regretted my decision to join the board of SA Helix. So if one day you feel like doing something crazy, just go for it, you’ll have time to think about what you just did afterward (but be careful, I didn’t say to commit a crime or rob a bank).

I’ve never had such a busy month in my life. In May, I felt like I existed only for my internship and for Helix. We went to Berlin over the first long weekend, it was incredible. It was REALLY hot, so we contributed to the capitalism by stopping every two hours for a cocktail. The activities the travel committee suggested were “The Garden of the World,” which I highly recommend if you’re ever in the area. It features miniature versions of iconic gardens from around the world, and it’s a lot of fun. We also took a guided boat tour right at the start of the trip to spot some cool places to check out later. Anyway, you missed out, and well, too bad for you, you should’ve just come 😉.

When I got back, it was time to wrap up the year and train our new board. So we organized a scavenger hunt for them (like we do every year), but the main goal was for them to get to know each other, since they’ll be working together for a whole year. I started training the treasurer pretty early on, because the schedule is packed and she has to make a new budget for 2026–2027 and present it to the FSC. Everything is going very well so far; I’m convinced she’ll make an excellent treasurer. Next, since my financial year ends on May 31, I also have to finish all my accounting as soon as possible, which takes quite a bit of time. And then organizing the CB weekend was really exhausting, but I think the candidate board really enjoyed it, which is the most important! But, I’m not going to lie, by the end of the weekend, I was glad to get back and sit under the air conditioning.

As for me, everything’s going well. I’m working hard on my thesis, and I have to admit it’s more stressful than anything else right now, but I’m confident. I’ve never looked forward to vacation so much, and to not having to think about anything!

Well, once again, I was inspirated for my monthly update, but since this is the last one, I took the liberty of using a whole page.
See you around<3

It’s already time for the last Monthly Update of our Board year…
I’m so glad to have had this opportunity. It has given me a lot of new knowledge and experience about higher education. I hope to have left my mark on this faculty, and that it will be used for the better.
I couldn’t have done it alone, though. Hadn’t I had the help of the rest of my amazing Board, I don’t think I could’ve done everything I did. And, of course, without our wonderful Student Evaluation Panel members, nothing would’ve got done, they are THE critical piece of the puzzle. As such, I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to have made this possible.
May has been a busy month, between training Patricija, the XXXIV Candidate Head of Education, finalizing the SEP compensation forms, and closing all remaining open topics

As such, I would like to end this letter by thanking all of you, it truly wouldn’t have been possible without you.

With much love, I wish you the best for the future,

Mar