Student friendly organisations in Aalborg
While studying in Aalborg I’ve been constantly realising how many great opportunities to spend time productively this city has to offer to young people. Unfortunately, about some of them I haven’t even heard until very last weeks of my staying there. As far as I know, many people get to know about them either accidentally, late or never. That is why I decided to meet up with some of the organisations and find out what they actually are and what they can offer to their volunteers. I hope that embracing them all in one article will help at least a bit :)
They are listed alphabetically:
- AIESEC
- Aalborg Student Radio
- Blue Cross
- European Youth
- Kickstart
- Platform4
- Red Barnet Ungdom
- SEA
- Studenthouse
- Study Life
- Toastmasters
- UNF
- 1000fryd
AIESEC
Founded in 1948 AIESEC is “Empowering Young People for Peace and Fulfillment of Humankind’s Potential”. I believe that there is hardly anyone that has never heard about this non-profit organisation, however it does vary from a country to country and city to city with the way it works and areas it covers.
Aalborg branch is very practice oriented and consists of around 20 active international members (yes, also Danish) that take care of organising CV workshops, events concerning cultural understanding, national conferences and internship opportunities for students. Members are split, according to their preferences, into project groups that work in a startup-like environment, which means that they behave like small companies and students can choose what roles they wish to hold. They can be responsible for e.g. marketing, design, IT or business development. Thanks to that, they may not only socialise but also develop the hard skills they acquire during studies and get some valuable experience that is widely recognized around the globe.
In Aalborg, AIESEC’s focus is mostly on handling internships and so, students may choose whether they want to go on a short or long stay abroad. The former is based on volunteering and serves mainly as a cultural experience while the latter is a professional and paid internship that may be even a one year long.
Quite often, there are also foreign students coming to Denmark for their internships and that’s a great possibility to learn something new since they usually hold a presentation about their country and culture. That may turn into something even more exciting if they come from such ‘exotic’ and distant places as Tunisia, as it has recently happened.
Besides the obvious benefits such as networking, leadership skills development and just spending their time productively, members of AIESEC can attend social events for the crew every other week, movie nights and Christmas and summer dinners. Leaders are also welcome to benefit from discounts for international conferences. Moreover, if you’re an AIESEC member in one city it basically means that you’ve become a citizen of a worldwide society and you’ll be welcome with open arms in any other branch.
If you’re a student between 18–30 and that sounds like something you would be interested in, just sing up anytime. Otherwise, there are info meetings held in the beginning of autumn and spring at UCN and AAU. Besides being responsible and devoted there are no specific requirements but you will be asked for a short interview where you can decide what group to join and what your goals are. You should take part in the whole community meetings once a month but everything else is quite flexible though officially, one should spend around 5–8 h a week on working for the organisation.
Heads up — although it’s very easy to join, I know a person that has not been accepted because of a questionable approach towards refugees. Generally, people joining AIESEC should have a perspective on such important social issues similar to the concept behind the organisation.
Aalborg Student Radio
Found in mid 90s, Aalborg Student Radio is the only internationally oriented student radio in Denmark. We all know that music has the power to connect people and so the establishers thrived for hooking up Danes with so-called “internationals”.
The concept of ASR bases on a general freedom and openness. Members can either forge their own radio show or join one of the departments. While the former allows you to be in charge of everything revolving around your idea from the scratch, the latter gives you the possibility to strenghten and focus on one specific skill. Graphic department holds the responsibility for the radio’s brand identity and graphical part of media coverage, the music department creates playlists and the tech crew handles technical issues and equipment.
There are no special requirements for joining and an annual fee of 100 dkk covering meeting expenses seems to be at least a fair price for what’s offered. Monthly meetings shouldn’t appear as too troublesome either and often tend to gravitate from relevant discussions more towards loose get-togethers.
Student Radio builds bridges among people from many different cultures and countries varying from USA and Mexico to Africa and Croatia. It’s simply a great community providing you with a chance to improve your communication skills, expand your network and obviously learn how to host a radio show.
Blue Cross
Do you want to make a difference and help the less fortunate? If so, Blue Cross might be a perfect place for you to spend some hours productively.
In its beginnings in the 19th century, the organisation was mainly focused on people suffering from alcoholism but throughout the years, it developed and widened its field of action. Blue Cross helps the marginalized, homeless and addicts by running shelters and selling recycled furniture, clothes etc.
A couple of hours a week and willingness to help is all that’s required of volunteers since the organisations is on a constant hunt for new members. It depends on you solely what you become involved in. For instance, you may be a part of social media marketing crew, help out with selling and packing in the stores and warehouses, pick up stuff from citizens or be in a tangible contact with people in need while volunteering in the shelters.
You don’t really have to attend any regular meetings because most of the information is spread comfortably via mail but you are more than welcome to show up at get-togethers for some cake and coffee when you can meet new people, present your ideas and discuss the plans for the stores.
Volunteering at Blue Cross with its almost 500 employees and 2500 volunteers spread around Denmark provides you with a possibility to observe and learn inner mechanisms of a big organisation. Moreover, current members like to think that it’s a great chance to learn versatile skills — from social care and store service to warehouse logistics and marketing. These are know-hows that can definitely be applied to many future places of work. Additionally, in the end of a day you just feel satisfied knowing that you’re doing something meaningful.
Sounds like something for you? Just text Blå Kors on Facebook.
European Youth
Lofty intentions of European Youth followed by benefits offered to its members should definitely gee up to join more than 150 existing members so I can only suppose that the rest just hasn’t heard about the organisation yet.
European Youth is a political organisation promoting and supporting European Union values, such as democracy and tolerance, among youth. They aim to encourage young people to be more interested in EU and politics in general by organising different activities such as meetings with political parties, lectures on current issues and various commitees.
Regarding the latter, you can join:
⦁ European Film Club to learn the basics of video production and direction that may help you spread the word and make a difference
⦁ Debate Club where members practice their communication skills by discussing different topics in a ‘British Parliament’ manner
⦁ Art Commitee which holds monthly exhibitions in the International House and stays in touch with local artists
⦁ Climate Change And Sustainability Commitee initiating disparate projects around the matter, e.g. currently creating a movie concerning sustainability in a collaboration with the Film Club
Additionally, you can come up with your own concept for a club, gather interested people and form it.
Travel enthusiasts will love it at the European Youth as well since there are many workshops, conferences and seminares held all around the Europe and members can get their travelling and accommodation expenses covered.
Anyone between 17 and 35 can join and exploit leadership trainings, networking and many other great perks of becoming a part of this modern and active community. European Youth does not require much of their members, 75 dkk a year and a declaration whether one wants to be active and prepare campaigns etc., semi-active or just supportive passive seems like a fair and rather easy deal.
Kickstart
Awesome guys from Kickstart devote their time to help and inspire young entrepreneurial minded students. They organize different kind of events and workshops that promote startup development and create opportunities for, presently indispensable, networking.
There are three main events hosted by the organisation; ‘Startup Alley’ brings all the startups together to catch up with the community, ‘Kickstart an Entrepreneur’ during which you can get some valuable feedback on your own business idea and ‘Startup Weekend Aalborg’ which is a crazy and wonderful workshop where participants have 54 hours to build a startup from idea.
Anyone can join and support them, particularly during hectic, event periods. There are many fields that can be covered by volunteers, e.g. PR, social media, music, physical preparations, catering or project management. Now, there is also a possibility of becoming a Kickstart ambassador so if you’re interested in entrepreneurship apply asap because it’s surely worth your time!
Thursday meetings take place in the middle of Aalborg, in a newly created Startup Café which is a cozy yet modern looking venue where you can seek business advices from more experiences students and sometimes guest speakers. It’s a perfect place for a business partner hunt or just a relaxed coffee.
As an organisation led mostly by young passionates, Kickstart has cool presence online so just check their website or Facebook profile if you want to know more.
Platform4
The maze of paths in old Tivoli of the Nordjylland, meandering through a children’s park, volleyball court and city garden’s squares blooming with all sort of vegetables and plants leads to an inconspicuous and a rather small building of Platform4.
It’s actually art and technology students that in 2008 came up ith the idea of creating a place for people like them — willing to experiment within their field of studies. Little did they know that throughout the years this initiative would turn into a supported by Kommune, non-profit playground for students, entrepreneurs, cultural organisations and businesses that want to create, share and develop their art&technology projects.
Nowadays, people may count on many activities going on in the heart of the Karolinelund park. There are art exhibitions, concerts, workshops on electronic fields in collaboration with AAU (open source systems, wifi security, programming languages etc.), audio visual performances and, what seems to be the most unique — peer 2 peer projects where anyone can teach others things they are best at.
There are just few ‘real’ employees as the venue is user-driven and probably could not exist without volunteers. That might be a reason for Platform4 not being extremely strict about deadlines and thus having a loose and rather spontaneous calendar. And all the members are treated in a similarly chilled way — there are just occasional meetings called since a Facebook page does all the scheduling work.
As a volunteer, you can freely swing from being a bartender or cook to lights & sounds operator or cleaner. No worries though, you won’t be left high and dry as you may always count on trainings provided by more experienced members.
Besides getting free entrances to the events you help organising, you receive a ‘salary’ in pleuro — special Platform4 money — one just for getting your butt off the couch and showing up and one per every hour you spend on volunteering. I’d say that it appears as a quite strong currency since any drink is worth just one pleuro.
As said before, there are no dead set rules so the shifts last usually from 2 to 3 hours but you probably will find yourself resistant to the passing of time once surrounded by the friendliness and general ‘hygge’ of the place. People come and go but there are many regulars so you can bond with legitimately awesome individuals and cliques.
Anyone can join but it’s suggested to just hang around and get to know the crew and the general atmosphere first and then almost naturally become a part of this small yet wonderful community.
Red Barnet Ungdom
Let’s be honest here, when you’re a student you probably come across chaotic and unorganised stuff everyday. Aren’t you sometimes just craving for at least one well structured aspect of your life? If so, I strongly recommend Red Barnet Ungdom.
The Aalborg branch actually claims to be the most organised and best functioning association in the city.
Established in 2003, the initiative grew to 20 different departments scattered around the country with the main office in Copenhagen. It’s run by volunteers with only the paperwork people getting paid. It all started with numerous students wanting their own organisation on behalf of which they could work with and help young people.
Currently, there are five big projects open for volunteers.
You can:
1. Visit the refugees centre — help people accommodate and feel welcome, play with children and simultaneously abolish some stereotypes.
2. Help kids with studying — an option mostly, but not exclusively, for Danish volunteers. Come over to child’s home and do homework with them or prepare them for an exam.
3. Teach children about bullying and defense — many kids become victims of school violence so it’s important that they know how to avoid or fight it and what to do when something like that happens to them.
4. Become a ‘friend of a child’ — support children from troubled areas by becoming their mentor and leading them to the right paths.
5. Get involved in the boys club in Aalborg Øst — organise different types of entertainment for young and often dangerously bored lads that could otherwise spend time on e.g. getting drunk in the streets.
You can also be a part of the ‘behind the scenes’ crews such as HR, communication department or event organisers.
Members are provided with numerous free, social and training events such as summer and Christmas parties, lectures on handling conflicts and workshops on leadership.
You can join this army of 80 wonderful and nationally diverse people anytime but in order to become a part of Red Barnet Ungdom you need to go through an interview so that the crew gets to know you and makes sure that you’re good with children, or — in case of you being ambitious of becoming a leading volunteer — coordinating and arranging. It’s also quite vital that you’re under 30.
Only leaders need to be extraordinarly devoted and spend specifically 10 hours a week on working for the organisation whereas the rest of members have a rather flexible schedule and are free to choose when they come.
SEA
Supposingly , SEA — Supporting Entrepreneurship at Aalborg University — uses mostly the abbreviation of their name not solely for the sake of legibility but also choking off the misconception that may scare away the non-AAU students. In fact, they are truly open to outside collaborations and supporting e.g. UCN students.
Anyway, the name basically stands for what the organisation deals with. Denmark breeds many young, wannabe entrepreneurs and they often need some mentorship in order to take the next step in their fast paced career. That is why, throughout the year, SEA organizes multiple personalized guidance events as well as inspirational lectures that promote entrepreneurship. The latter are often supported by presence of some famous businessmen such as Tine Thygesen or Jacob Risgaard that, saying from my own experience as a listener, are not only great with doing business but also talking about it.
Three positive guys from the SEA’s board also make sure that every Wednesday you can get a free business consultancy with specialists from different fields at the CREATE building.
Another example of a project run by the organisation is Idea 2 Business and it consists of four workshops on business models, pitching, writing business plan etc. that help people prepare their startup ideas and, for instance, present them on the Aalborg Startup Weekend. They are also in charge of organising WOFIE which is a huge, 4 day annual workshop on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Depending on their preferences, the role of potential volunteers would be either marketing WOFIE, fund raising soft funds or physically working on arranging the events. In return, active helpers may definitely expect some help with facilities and funds for heir projects, support in organizing their own events and even get references from AAU or SEA.
Volunteering at SEA is definitely an outstanding opportunity for those fascinated by entrepreneurship and craving for valuable business contacts and experiences.
Studenthouse
Apart from a huge diversity of events that happen here, such as concerts, karaoke nights etc., Studenthuset is well equipped in other forms of entertainment. Extreme emotions triggered by a passionate foosball game or nervous restraint, when it comes to pool, connect people. Strangers become friends when the contest is over and they finally may sit and order beer or fancy drinks. Amazingly out-going volunteers have the power to make even shy people feel confident. So does the wide selection of alcohol in the bar. Studenthouse is not a subcultural place thus people of all kind appear there which in turn means that everyone may find someone suitable for them.
For those who don’t find it enough — there’re numerous switches placed all over the room that are waiting for your dying iPhones and laptops. It basically means that one can spend whole day in this friendly environment working on a project or just relaxing. Most importantly though, Studenthouse offers the inherent feature of young people’s lives — free wifi.
Whole place is being created by its users. No one is under pressure to do anything. Paintings that hang on the walls present things that would not probably find place in other public venues since they show e.g. Justin Bieber’s face surrounded by existential thoughts, phallus hanging freely or surrealistic shapes. General freedom might be felt even in toilets where everyone is able to leave their mark by drawing or writing on doors whatever comes to their minds.
As a volunteer, you can be a bartender, help with sound and light system or support event organisation. In order to fulfill your volunteering duty you need to take several shifts in a specific period of time but no one seems to question that. Actually, doesn’t the fact that 200 people work there for free speak for itself?
During first school weeks, Studenthouse serves as a daily safe haven for many, temporarily ‘homeless’ students and those that haven’t found any company yet so it’s a perfect venue for meeting new people.
StudyLife
The main purpose of StudyLife is to connect all the students in Aalborg. Seems vague yet it is actually laudable since the founders tried to create a group that’s like a medium for anyone who was retrieving some kind of information. They are basically in charge of redirecting such poor souls to proper people. In reality though, their activities often revolve more around organising numerous social events such as workshops and parties.
Current students from Aalborg may be part of the Board but anyone else can join marketing, design and IT departments, arrange the events, work on the brand or simply fulfil the goal of the organisation and answer the questions via their Facebook page.
As a member you can come up with an idea for a culturally valuable trip for students and get it funded which honestly sounds quite awesome.
StudyLife decided not to lure potential members with big words such as ‘networking possibilities’, instead, they offer 40 dkk pizza at Elika, and cheaper parties for active participants. It strikes as a tempting and reasonable offer considering that the above mentioned tend to be a lion’s share of the students’ monthly expenses.
There are no specific requirements for the volunteers besides of the typical ones such as being responsible and devoted. If you want to be in the Board, you have an opportunity to do so once a year when there are elections held and anyone can just come to present themselves and their idea for the organisation’s future.
Toastmasters
First thing that needs clarifying here is the name. Please do not mind it. In the contrary to many comments I’ve heard, Toastmasters are not competing in making the best toasts or congratulating newlyweds with a champagne glass in their hands.
There are so many things that each of us wants to say to the world but only few can go out in front of a crowd and give a great speech, without shaking voice, overwhelming stress and trembling or sweaty palms. Some probably faint just thinking about it. Toastmasters are here for you guys.
The idea to help people improve their public speech skills came from USA and the Aalborg branch is basically a franchise evolved from two women’s initiative. You do have to pay a disposable 20 dollar fee and then 6 bucks a month but all the money goes to the headquarters in America which makes it a non-profit organisation in Denmark. Once you pay, you receive a lifetime membership valid in the whole world which means that you may continue your development in any other Toastmasters association in any country and city on the globe. Once you stop paying you just become inactive but do not lose anything. Quite comfy, right? USA provides members with the whole methodology enclosed in two clear manuals.
So how does it work? As a toastmaster, you attend two hour long meetings twice a month, where everyone follows the steps from the a/m manuals that let them achieve higher levels of proficiency in communication. You start from simple tasks such as ice-breaking ‘speech’ where you just have to introduce yourself shortly and then move on to more complicated and longer ones. After each performance you are being evaluated — other members are split into several groups, e.g. grammarians checking your grammatical accuracy or timers making sure that you fit in time. But no worries, since there are many roles that need to be covered you do not give speeches on every meething. All the positions are established beforehand and if you are chosen to give a speech you get a master assigned who helps you prepare.
Besides improving your general communication skills you also have a chance to work on your leadership abilities. Moreover, you can join the organisation with any level of English and observe how it advances remarkably during your membership. It’s also a great place to practice pitching your ideas, network and meet people (mostly engineers :) ). Once you complete your manual, you receive a certificate that has been proven to be highly valuable for employers. Conferences in e.g. Sweden or speech competitions — get discount, some money for the trip etc., badges and diplomas for members.
You can also join as a part of the crew and become elected as a president, vicepresident, treasurer, PR person, secretary or administration helpers.
Anyone can join anytime, there are 21 members at the moment and the club needs at least 20 to be visible internationally so, obviously, it is really keen on new participants and you are welcome to just come as a guest for free to check how it all works.
So if you hate public performances or feel like emptying your stomach before expressing any opinion in front of more than two people or just want to prepare for defending your PhD thesis — join Toastmasters and you will see a tangible change.
UNF
Do you want to know how one is attracted to another? Or are you more about mathematics and Darwinism? UNF (Ungdommens Naturvidenskabelige Forening or simply Youth Organisation for Natural Sciences) is here for all the young and curious minds that want to deepen and widen their scientifical knowledge.
First idea of such a concept appeared in high school teachers’ minds in 1944 and in 2002 UNF Denmark was officially founded.
UNF organises lectures, workshops and summer science camps that provide youth with a hand on education. There are also tours to research facilities in Midjytlland organised where you can learn about e.g. innovative solutions in farming. If you’re lucky enough, you may also hitch a ride to places like CERN, ESA and NASA.
UNF believes, rightly, that volunteering should be free and that’s why the only fee that members may need to pay is for some of the trips as the rest is covered by, not rarely, big companies such as Nordea. You can join anytime if you’re between 16 and 30, responsible and able to sacrifice 8 h a year (yes, that’s a correctly written number).
You can either arrange the events, take care of the online part (updating the website or, as I’d suggest, making it responsive), organise socials for members or be in charge of PR. Moreover, if you are keen on a specific topic, you may propose if for the following lectures and gain some experience in leadership while getting it going.
This is the only organisation I describe that consists of Danes mostly. However, all internationals are more than welcome to join and contribute to the UNF’s growth by e.g. translating the documents.
1000fryd
Situated in a middle of a small and quite shabby street, 1000fryd may not make the best first impression but look deep before you leap. With a history reaching 1983, they’ve hosted a great number of musicians, including such daisies as Mudhoney, Mø or Greenday.
The venue is quite versatile being an underground, small bar, community center with a stage, a recording studio and a cinema. Promoting vegan lifestyle and mostly niche, non-traditional and alternative rock music, it attracts unique and, not rarely, fascinating people that may be hard to find in other nightlife locales.
As a user driven place, 1000fryd runs mostly on volunteering and activist work and is always in need of more hands and heads so showing up at one of Monday meetings at 17 is all you need to do in order to become a part of the organisation. There are many groups that you can volunteer at:
PR — focused on advertising, branding, posters and social media
Booking — event management, contacting bands and booking them
Bar — bartending, door shifts during concerts
PeepShow — taking care of movie nights
Kitchen — preparing sandwiches for the bar, meals for bands and weekly soup kitchen
In return, you get free coffee, tea, sodas, beers as well as entrances to various events and concerts.
Sunday Movie Matineés, Soup Kitchen on Tuesdays, Documentary Evenings on Wednesdays and Ping Pong Thursdays and primarly numerous concerts guarantee refreshing entertainment among original people, so make sure to check it out and let the exceptional spirit of the place encourage you to become one of many regulars.