Graduation is close: Choose your speaker!

Hello everyone,

We are getting closer. The end is near. In less than a month, it is all officially over. In order to make our last & final day a great success, we need YOUR input! Last week, you nominated some students for the speech-part of the graduation/closing ceremony. Now, it is VOTING TIME!

Earlier, we lacked some info concerning the graduation/closing ceremony procedure. It turned out that we have the honor not only to vote for a student speaker, but a teacher speaker as well!!! As of tomorrow afternoon, you will find a list of candidates, voting papers and a box to cast your vote in the coffee corner on the first floor.

One remark on the list of candidates: Demos will have to give a speech in any case. Therefore, you will not find any Demos member among the options, you will hear from us for sure!  

Make sure your voice counts! Vote until WEDNESDAY 5 PM @ the 1st floor coffee corner!

Best,
Your Demos Board

Today: AGORA – OUR SCHOOL – OUR STUDIES – OUR RESPONSIBILITY

Thousands of years ago, the citizens of Athens used to gather in the city center in order to discuss the problems of their community, and democratically decide the best solutions for them. The citizens of Athens called themselves “Demos”, and they their gathering was called “Agora”. This decision making process represents the true essence of the Athenian democracy.

The board of Demos proudly announces to our fellow students that the time has come for us to follow the spirit of the ancient Athenians, and gather on Monday, the 25^th of May from 4 till 6PM at room 1.009 in order discuss about everything that has to do with our life as MPP students of the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance.

As mentioned above, our gathering is not only going to carry the name of the ancient Athenian Agora. Quite the contrary, it is going to carry its very spirit. So, it is YOU who’s going to decide upon what is going to be discussed. Please send an email with your points to demos@maastrichtuniversity.nl with the topics you want all of us MPP students to discuss and decide upon.

Every MPP student is kindly requested to come and play an active role in the Agora. Only if this happens, our opinion as MPP students, as the Demos of the School of Governance, is going to have true value. At this point, it’s really important to mention that all decisions that will be taken on the frame of the Agora will be addressed to the other members of our School’s community (the faculty’s academic and administrative staff), as a loud and clear democratic decision of the MPP students, but will be communicated as common and anonymous.

So, let’s all gather and make Agora a reality. After all it is our school, our studies and our responsibility to decide what’s best for us, the students of the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. 

Best regards,

The Board of Demos

African Night & Carribean Party

Hello everybody!

 

After a quiet and hopefully peaceful Easter weekend, be prepared for the upcoming week full of fun events!

 

On Wednesday, we will kick off the new block with an AFRICAN NIGHT!! There will be food, music and traditional dances/dance workshops prepared for you! All you have to bring is drinks, a smile on your face, and we kindly ask you to pay a small contribution of 2€ to our great African cooks! We will start at 6:30 PM and be able to stay in school until 10:30PM. Let’s welcome the spring by a great night inspired by the hot continent!

 

On Friday, DEMOS would like to welcome you to the Carribean Party at Studentencafé De Beurs, starting at 9PM. Like previous times, there is no entry fee, instead we will await you with welcome drinks once again. Dress up according to the tropical motto party with a Carribean touch! Café De Beurs is located at Spoorweglaan 6, opposite to the train station and next to a Chinese restaurant.

 

We hope to see you Wednesday and Friday!

Your Demos Team

DEMOS Elections !

 
Dear all!

As everyone has probably heard by now, the DEMOS Elections are coming up once more. Open for election are the position of Vice-President and Secretary. Only students from the february cohort can run, but everybody can vote!

To ensure informed decision-making, we offer all candidates the possibility to post some information about themselves on this site.  You can find their profiles down below.

The running candidates for the office of Vice-President are: Katrin Huesken, Jeroen Kohls, Patrick Reagan. Up for the Secretary position are Mihaela Moldoveanu and Patrick Reagan.

If you could not make it to the pre-election event and you have no clue what the candidates have planned for their time with Demos, do not hesitate to talk to them next to consulting their posts.

We wish everybody a great voting process and to the candidates: good luck!

Best wishes,
Demos

Candidate for Vice-President: Katrin Huesken

 

Hello Everyone,

for those of you who were not there on tuesday and who do not know me: My name is Katrin, I am 22 years old and I am from Luxembourg. I finished my bachelor in International Business Economics here in Maastricht and most importantly I am running for the Vice President Position in Demos.

Why you should vote for me:
I really enjoy organizing events, working together in teams and taking on responsibilities.

During my bachelor I have worked for 1 & 1/2 years for the student organization EFM academy. I was an active member and a board member. During this time I was able to gain experiences in organizing events, managing people and parties and I have learned what it means to take on the responsibilities of a board member. Currently I am also active in Amnesty International Maastricht Students (this is taking up only 4 hour per week) and I am helping organize human rights related events.

I believe that my past experiences and my bachelor in Organization will help me fulfill the position and responsibilities of the Vice President and it will help me to assist the president as well as to manage the transition of the new board in September.

Vote for me.

Thank you very much.

Katrin Huesken

Invitation: Lecture by San Bilal (ECDPM)

DEMOS would like to invite you cordially to a lecture by

Dr. San Bilal

from the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) in Brussels

on

“Trade Relations between EU and ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific States) –
Challenges, Past and Future Perspectives.”

on Tuesday, 20th Janurary 2009
from 2.30h to 3.30h
in Room 0.009

at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance,
Kapoenstraat 2, 6211 KW Maastricht

Please register by sending an e-mail to demos@governance.unimaas.nl!

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Sanoussi Bilal, a Swiss national, is the Programme Coordinator of ECDPM’s programme on ACP-EU Economic and Trade Cooperation. With a background in international relations, economics and international trade, his expertise and publications are in the fields of trade policies and development, economic integration, political economy, regulation and trade-related areas. Before joining ECDPM, he worked on trade and immigration issues at the University of Geneva, on internal market issues at the European Institute of Public Administration, and trade and development issues at the Overseas Development Institute. His current activities relate mainly to the trade policies, regional integration processes and capacity development of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union, in the context of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations and implementation, as well as the multilateral (WTO) framework, including aid for trade initiatives.

Happy Holidays!

Dear fellow students,

Demos and the MGSoG wishes all of you happy holidays! Enjoy the time amongst friends and family. Let the start into 2009 be a healthy, happy and successful one!

All the best wishes from your board.

It’s PARTY TIME! *** November 21st

Hello everybody!

 

The first real DEMOS party is coming up! As the year’s end is approaching, and some of our fellow students are finished with their courses at the MGSoG for good, we want to get together for a final party after the upcoming exam on November 21st.

 

Not only will it be nice for everyone to mingle with the entire group after the separation last month, also it will be a great opportunity to shake and dance off the pre-exam tension. Additionally, we will enjoy a last moment with the student body as we know it – before the first of us are left to fly from the warm MGSoG nest into the real world.

 

We hope to see all of you on friday, the 21st of November! The party will take place at Studentencafe de Beurs, located at the Spoorweglaan 6 – which is opposite of the train station, next to a Chinese restaurant. The exitement will start at 9PM, we will sponsor a welcome drink for you and have some other surprises… Be prepared!

 

Yours truly,

Demos

Activities Calender: October 2008 to February 2009

 

Hello everyone!

After having talked about it for a while, we are proud to present to you the activities scheduled so far until February 2009! Comments? Remarks? Feel free to respond to us!

All the best, the DEMOS board.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

OCTOBER

Leisure activities:

• End Oct (date tba) - French Dinner: Parle français pendant toute la soiree!

Job-related activities: 

• 29^th Oct, 5pm, MGSoG: CAREEal – The Real Life Talk: Learn for your job search from experience of others!

_______________________________________________________________________________________

NOVEMBER

 Leisure activities:

•  Mid Nov (tba): Spanish Dinner: Hablamos español toda la noche!
• 21st November, 8pm, Beurs: Goodbye Party (for Feb cohorte)

Job-related activities: 

• Mid Nov (tba) - I-Cool Presentation: The Job Facebook of the MGSoG Students and Alumni

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 DECEMBER

 Leisure activities: 

• 3rd or 4th Dec, Tafelstraat, 7 pm - Sinterklaas Party: Celebrate like the Dutch!
• Mid Dec - German Dinner: Sprich Deutsch – den ganzen Abend lang!
• 19th-21st Dec - Trip to Ardennes (Belgian “mountains”)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

JANUARY

 Leisure activities:

•  29th January - Graduation ceremony (Feb cohort)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

FEBRUARY

 Leisure activities:

•  Welcome Party (for new students)

 Job-related activities:

•  Mid Feb - Study Trip to Brussels
• Job Fair MGSoG

DEMOS ELECTION RESULTS

Dear fellow students,

These are the new committee members that you have elected. Andrea Schmidt for President, Johannes Heickmann for Treasurer, Annelien Ronda for Communications Officer and Dafina Dimitrova for Activities Coordinator. Congratulations colleagues and welcome to Demos Board. We are looking forward to working with you. However, we would like to thank all those that expressed interest in Demos committee.

Here are the general results for all candidates:

Number of registered voters – 74

Total votes – 48

President: Andrea Schmidt (23), Pim Sangtian (5), Maarten Wanders (6), Shohannah Bramlett (12), Joost Gruijters (2), Invalid votes (0);

Treasurer: Johannes Heickmann (32), Robbert Lucas (14), Invalid votes (2);

Communications Officer: Annelien Ronda (26), Graciela Van Der Poel (14), Fleur Kampmann (5), Invalid votes (3);

Activities Coordinator: Andrea Schmidt (6), Fleur Kampmann (2) Pim Sangtian (5), Dafina Dimitrova (14), Guido Rojer (11), Shohannah Bramlett (9), Invalid votes (1),

Yours,

Demos team