By Cadence Chua, Komari Machida, and Saanika Sudeep
Introweek is in full swing, and first-years are having AUC lingo thrown at them from all directions – committees, AUCSA, boards… many terms that seem integral to social life here. Confused about it all? Fret not, as The Herring spoke to students, both heavily and lightly involved in AUC’s committees, to provide you with advice and diverse perspectives on joining them. With yesterday’s committee market, this article is sure to help guide your decisions.
Committees can be viewed as ‘extra-curricular clubs’ hosting events for students. They are managed by the AUC Student Association (AUCSA) board, who concern themselves with matters relating to community life at AUC. All AUC students are automatically part of AUCSA and are able to participate in events organised by committees or be part of one by joining a committee’s board. The former does not require one to join the committee officially, while the latter is a heavier commitment and involves planning committee events for the student body. Over 20 committees organise events at AUC, from raves and sports tournaments to Model United Nations and pub quizzes. Starting one’s own committee is also possible!
AUCSA works closely with each committee, providing various types of support. On AUCSA’s board, there are three Committee Affairs Officers (CAOs) who monitor and work with the committees to set them up for success. One of this year’s CAOs is Rebekka Walser, a second-year Social Sciences major. She described her role in supporting the committees as “simultaneously [being] their cheerleader and their fire service”. She explained, “If something goes wrong, I’m there to help them and to problem-solve.” Much of each committee’s budget comes from AUCSA, and the board decides the allocation per committee through a Budget General Assembly every year. Walser believes that, as “AUC is a very small and very special place, […] having a structure such as AUCSA, which is specifically dedicated to [the] AUC community, is a really, really cool thing”.
However, to what extent does committee life truly shape social life at AUC? The answer to this looks different for every student, as involvement with committees can vary greatly. For third-year Sciences major Derin Ureten, who is on the board of the sustainability committee Pangea, committees contributed majorly to the formation of her social groups here. This was especially so in her first year. “It was like an open window in which you could see and learn more about other people while doing very fun events,” she said. In her second year, as she joined the Pangea board, going to committee events “became more of a habit”. Since her friends were also there, she commented that “it’s like an organised meetup”. On the other hand, Alex Jarocinska, a third-year Sciences major, acknowledged that he did not make any close friends from just joining events. Instead, he feels that they “were a good facilitator for furthering connections with people that [he] was just starting to know”.
You might also be wondering about the perks of joining a board. On this note, Myrielle Winkelmann, a third-year Humanities major who was part of the ART committee’s board for two years, noted that it was “integral” for the stability of her social life. “I was so glad to be on a board and have a friend group that met up once a week for the meetings,” she said. However, as she gained a more stable social circle in her second year, committee work became something she did “for the community and for the fun of it”. “I [remember] feeling really satisfied because you’re creating things. Like this year, we had an art exhibition in Amsterdam, and we were super, super proud of that,” she recalled fondly. She added that being continuously involved in committee life can be helpful as well, especially if one aspires to become a key board member (e.g. chair, secretary, managers) in future years. She stated that she feels like she “wouldn’t have been able to do such a good job” without the experience she gained throughout her two years in the ART committee. Although some find great purpose in board life, Jarocinska, who did not join any boards, did not feel like he had missed out. Smiling, he said, “The boards are more work, and the fun parts seem to be the events.”
The topic of the ‘AUC bubble’, a tendency for students’ social life to be limited to events around AUC, also came up in interviews. Jarocinska expressed that although the bubble is often discussed negatively by students, it never stopped him from branching out. With time, he naturally shifted from committee events to various non-AUC ones in Amsterdam, “want[ing] to get to know people outside of [AUC]”. Similarly, though Winkelmann’s work with ART took up most of her social time, she still made an effort to attend off-campus events like parties. “There’s only so many hours you can spend in the [dorm] event spaces,” she joked, as ART events often take place there.
When asked about advice for first-year students, Uteren encouraged, “Try to join as many activities as [you] can, even though [you’re] scared. It doesn’t hurt to try.” She added that, as AUCSA events are very affordable and in most cases free, they are “very good opportunities for [students] to try out new things” with the start of a new chapter in their lives. Jarocinska echoed this sentiment, saying that he’s discovered a new hobby thanks to committee events — he’s been to every pub quiz the committee has had since he arrived! However, he warned against social burnout, advising students to “do as much as [they] can healthily do”.
Winkelmann also acknowledged first-years’ possible sense of overwhelm during Introweek, saying, “The discomfort is temporary; everybody’s overwhelmed and scared.” Because of this shared situation, she has noticed that everyone is also “quite open and forgiving”. She encouragingly asserted, “Just push yourself to deal with the fact that […] you’re out of your depth for the first week or two, but that is exactly the situation you grow into.”
