Dear LIFE members and readers,
My name is Charlotte, and I started studying Life Science and Technology three years ago. Back then, I became an active member of LIFE almost immediately, and this year I have the honor of serving as Praeses of the 29th board of S.A. LIFE! Let me start with a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in a small village near Utrecht, called Odijk. I grew up there with my younger sister, my parents, and two cats. Eventually, I also got two guinea pigs. I've loved swimming my whole life, and when I was nine, I started competitive swimming. I remained a passionate swimmer until I started university. In my second year of LST, I finally started missing the sport and joined the student swimming club WAVE.
I've been closely involved with LIFE since the beginning of my studies. I've already served on many committees, including LaLacie, AlCoLI (see photo), Barbeheer, and the Sympocie. And now, in my fourth year, I'm on the board!
I can hear you thinking: "What does a Praeses actually do?" And I completely understand, because I had the same question during the three years I was a member before my board year. Here, I'll take you through a week in my life as a board member of the most wonderful student association in Leiden and Delft.
Let's start with a general description of the Praeses' role. A Praeses is "A member of the board of a student association, study association, fraternity or committee, etc. Also called chairperson or president. This is the boss, point of contact, and person ultimately responsible," according to the student dictionary. In other words, I'm the one who oversees the association, I'm involved in policy, chair the General Members' Meeting, and I represent LIFE in consultations with the universities and other student associations.
So, now that we've got that cleared up, we can move on. As you may know, we start every week with a board meeting (BV). As president, my role is to chair these meetings, resolve any disputes, and generally ensure the meeting runs as smoothly as possible. After the meeting, we all start with our own tasks.
My role could best be described as a multitude of small tasks that come my way. My job-related tasks include planning any new activities conceived during the BV, answering emails, and preparing agendas for the next BV or for a General Members' Meeting, if one is coming up. These are, of course, recurring tasks, but each week is actually different. Depending on the activities, I sometimes stand in front of a group of people to give a short talk about LIFE or an opening or closing speech for an event. Besides my board duties, I also serve on several committees, which also involve some of my work.
I hope this gives you a better idea of what I do when I'm at the hub my computer! Feel free to stop by for a friendly chat, I'm always happy to hear from you.
Charlotte