Welcome New Board Members

Dear fellow Students,

I am pleased to announce the election of the new DEMOS boardmembers. Before I do I would like to thank all candiadates for their enthusiastic participation and the entire class for their support of the democratic process.

The results are as follows:

We welcome to the DEMOS board President Joel Young, Treasurer Maria Pineda Escobar, Communication Officer Sabine Israel, and Activities Coordinator Ilze Plavgo.

The election results are available upon request.

The DEMOS Board

Election Party & International Dinner

Dear Fello Students

The Election Party will take place on Tuesday, September 15

starting at 18.15 in Room 0.009

The actual election will be online, starting on Wednesday/Thursday after the election party.

The International Dinner will start aroud 7; please bring drinks, salads, breads and any other dishes (preferabley something from your homecountry). This will be a nice opportunity to get to know the candiates, as well as the other students.

Hope to see you all on Tuesday

DEMOS Board

Candidates – President

I would like to announce my candidacy for President of the DEMOS group.  During my Bachelor’s and previous work experience at a university, I have been involved in many committees designed increase the quality of student life and experiences.  I served as President of the Student Athlete Advisory Council at Towson University in Baltimore, MD USA, a group that worked with university officials to solve concerns for the students in the athletic department as well as perform many community service events.  At Johns Hopkins University, I was part of the student council for the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, a committee designed to ensure that each student of our vastly diverse population had a fair chance to equally participate in academics and activities.

It would be my pleasure to work with the other DEMOS board members to address and bring student concerns to the necessary MGSoG Administration as well as develop as many interesting social and academic events and experiences.  Personally, I would love to take part in activities that would be able to help me professionally as well as increase the amount of fun we experience here in Maastricht to bring the MGSoG students closer together.  By working with DEMOS, I would be able to have a direct effect on making this happen as well as having the chance to bring these opportunities to everyone else.  If elected (or even if not elected), I would very much like to hear the ideas all of our students have to make our year the best it can possibly be.

Thank you very much!

Best wishes,
Joel Young, Universiteit Maastricht 2010

Candiates – Communication Officer

Dear fellow classmates,

For those of you, who do not know me yet: My name is Sabine Israel, I am German, 22 years old and my previous studies were in European Studies  in Maastricht.

After having studied here already for three years, I am well-acquainted with the university and its surroundings and now looking for a little challenge next to our MPP programme. Therefore I am running for the position of the Communications Officer. In my opinion we have a wonderful class of MPP students 2009/2010 and  that’s why I think that working as an intermediary between you guys and DEMOS will be great fun

I know that studying at times can be frustrating and especially for this reason it is great to have a student organisation which organises social events and can represents us students to the faculty. I would like to become part of the DEMOS board to act as your contact person and to keep you updated on new events, which will help you cope with your studies!

A marvellous academic year to all of you,

Sabine

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Hello Everybody,

My name is Laurin Sepoetro and I have decided to run for  Communication Officer at DEMOS.

During my previous Bachelor Studies at Maastricht University I have been actively engaged in a communication committee of another student association. Therefore, I am certain that I will fulfill your requirements in dealing with our communication.

I have decided to run for Communications Officer at DEMOS as I am convinced that in this position I can make a real contribution in connecting all MGSoG students with one another and thereby foster our Community. As a new student at MGSoG, it is my personal concern that students get to know each other and are provided with opportunities to meet and interact with others also outside the academic framework. Moreover, I believe that for an outstanding education environment to exist, it is essential to ensure that students and staff alike are also interacting in an outstanding social environment.   As DEMOS is the only study association at our school, it serves a crucial role in providing this social environment with a variety of forums of interaction, such as festivities, seminars or excursions. I believe that serving as Communication Officer is vital and exciting as it allows to communicate and mediate with and between fellow students, thereby contributing to this sense of togetherness. Especially, due to its rather small size compared to other faculties at Maastricht University, it is crucial to maintain a strong relationship between the students, the school’s staff and DEMOS by providing enjoyable and efficient communication. Acting as the first contact for you at DEMOS, the Communication Officer should ensure that your opinions and impulses are forwarded in order to be heard. To make sure that this is taken care of, I want to take over this job!

Good luck to all of us and I am sure that we will spend an awesome year together!

Cheers,

Laurin

Candidates – Activities Coordinator

Dear all guys,

I am a Chinese girl, with full of enthusiasm and courage, and would like to be a member of DEMOS as a Activities Coordinator. After two-weeks’ survival in the brand-new world, I felt in love with the city, UM ,and all the international students with distinct cultural backgrounds and also diversified perspectives.

Experienced the earthquake last year in my hometown, I realized what’s the real meaning of my life. Being here, I am facing the challenge of MPP program much different from my previous academic development but also perfecting my life by making an effect to full participation and commitment.

As a outgoing, energetic and creative person, I used to be the president of student union of my school in my bachelor studies and cooperated to fulfill series of activities with other members. By constant learning, working with the DEMOS would be another wonderful experience I will receive in coming year as well as enriching developments.

Thank you all my friends for support and encouragement, and I wish I could be your partner.
Looking forward to see you next time at the activity hold by DEMOS…

Bests,
Jing Luo

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Hi! I’m Ilze and I would love to be part of DEMOS and go for the position of Activities organizer. I really hope you can help me with this one! I believe I am the right one for this position because I have quite an international and active lifestyle and I really enjoy organizing activities and events since it’s great fun to organize things and be with people who are having great time and benefit from it!

As for myself, I’m Latvian, 23 years old, and really enjoy being a student! After graduating Riga Commerce School in Latvia I went to Scotland to do my degree in order to gain a wider international outlook and enjoy Scottish highlands and culture.  I did an internship last summer in Brussels, in the Permanent Representative of Latvia to the European Union, where I could observe the work of professional diplomats and various meetings of the European Council working groups.

This June I graduated from the University of Dundee and was awarded a first class degree of MA joint Honours in International Relations and European Studies. During these studies I was fortunate to do a year-long ERASMUS exchange in France, Grenoble, in the middle of French Alps. This academic year has furthered my skills and confidence in adapting quickly to a new environment and educational system. I can say for sure that it has been the best year of my life so far, and I would do it again and again if I could! When I returned to Scotland for my final year, I and other 7 people founded Dundee Erasmus Network, student society for exchange students, aiming to welcome incoming students to the University and help them to integrate fully by organizing social and cultural events, trips and parties. We even got awarded as “The Best New Society 2009” by Student Council and received a nice, shiny cup which reminds me of so many great, fun moments from that year in Scotland, with all the exchange students having an amazing year and appreciating what we had done!  I was also awarded a Millennium Volunteer Award when I graduated, which is a positive recognition by the Scottish Government of volunteers’ commitment to the University.

As you can see, voluntary and organisational work has always taken a big part in my life. So does sports: I love snowboarding and hiking, and I play volley-ball and do swimming. Nevertheless, I also love my studies and I believe that part of activities should be educational. We should benefit fully from being exposed to so many cultures, and learn from it! Lets have an amazing year, rich with events, parties, trips and exchange of knowledge and experience!

Thank you!

Ilze.

Candidates – Treasurer

Dear Fellow Classmates,

After some reflection, I have realized that it would be very interesting for me to act as Treasurer of DEMOS during this year of studies. My main motivation comes from the fact that by taking part of the MPP programme I’m not only looking for an academic enrichment, which is indeed very important, but also I want to become a better person in the broader sense of this expression. During my fairly long years of schooling I have never taken part on this kind of student associations. So now that I am been given the chance to be full time student again, I would like to take the opportunity to experience how is it like to be part of DEMOS.

Now, on what it comes to the functions as a Treasurer, I have some economics and financial knowledge from my undergraduate studies and job experience (international business), thus I am confident I have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform the job satisfactorily. I am not a professional accountant, but I assure you I’ll give my best to make budgets run smoothly! and off course I will be willing and flexible to cooperate with other activities within the board.

I hope to be able to join DEMOS group and learn from all your enthusiasm and cooperation!

My best regards,

Maria

Welcome Party

Dear all, to kick-off the beginning of the new year and to get to know each other a bit more, DEMOS is organizing a welcome party.

WHEN: Saturday September 5, 2009       starting @ 21.00

WHERE: Studentencafe de Beurs (Spoorweglaan 6, opposite of the Train station)

Join us for a fun night and some free shots sponsored by DEMOS!

The board of DEMOS welcomes the new students of the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance

First, DEMOS, congratulates all the new students of the MGSoG being admitted to one of the most renowned Masters in Public Policy and Human Development!

Another amazing year is ready to start at the MGSoG, and we would like to welcome all our fellow master-students to Maastricht!

Are you ready for what will be one of the most important experiences of your life?

Of course DEMOS, the student association of our School will be there to make the life of MGSoG easier, and to fill the gap between our challenging courses, with activities, like international dinners, trips, parties, and career orientation events.

We can hardly wait to meet you all in Maastricht this Monday!

The board of DEMOS,

Jeroen & Katrin

Who would like to join the DEMOS board?

The Demos board consists of 6 member and currently 4 positions are open:

• President (Face of the board, contact person for the MGSoG, working together with the Treasurer)
• Treasurer ( takes care of DEMOS’ financial situation; including: budgeting, collection of money etc.)
• Communications officer (main contact person for the students, working together with the Activities Coordinator on events)
• Activities Coordinator (in charge of the main DEMOS events, is assisted by the rest of the board)

Overall, the main tasks for each position are somewhat flexible and everyone is welcome to suggest and take over the planning of new and existing events.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING THE BOARD DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US!

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