My Experience In the Board of a Student Club
My Introduction to YES
Prior to university, I had always been fascinated with people who were amazing at communicating with others. While I was able to talk to mere computers, they could achieve bonds with the most intricate machine I knew; humans. Living up to the computer scientist stereotype, I was a shy guy who sat alone at school and did some coding when he was home but I really wanted to see if I could also be an extrovert. I just was not given nor tried to create the opportunity to try it out. I finished high school with that mentality and had thought that I would always be stuck in my bubble… until I met the Young Entrepreneurs Society (or YES for short).
The day I started university, I was bombarded with a million student clubs’ invitations but I did not take any of them since I was not aware of the importance of them in the social life of a university student. It was only when one of my friends wanted us to give a shot at some club that I was properly introduced to YES. Immediately, I fell in love with it. This was a place in which I could develop social relations while also engaging in career-savvy extracurricular activities. After being an active member for the better part of a year, I realized that I wanted to do more for this club and be able to sign my name under some improvements. I applied to be a member of the board, and got accepted to the position of “Business Talks Coordinator”.
I Got Elected, Now What?
The feeling of stress hit me right at the moment in which I got elected. All of a sudden, I was responsible for a whole community of people. While I knew that that would be the case prior to the election, the moment that made it real was when my name was read out loud, announcing my acceptance. I was dumbstruck… It was one of the first times in my life that I did not actually know exactly what was going to happen and it was a scary experience. I thought I had that feeling before but this was the real deal. I was about to go into a year of stress and not knowing what will take place in the future. Although I was feeling overwhelmed and scared, I can’t say that I wasn’t enjoying the feeling.
My Experience in YES
My first two months in the Young Entrepreneurs Society were chaotic, exciting and revolutionary. In the span of two months I had learned the basics of how to organize a huge event, how to reach out to companies to appoint them for a possible sponsorship deal and most importantly, I had learned how to do these abroad. The amount of information stuffed into my brain was surreal and hard to deal with at first, but it was quickly shown to me that I would be better at managing this information in a matter of weeks. By the end of the summer, after two months of rigorous hard work, we finally got to meet the heart of the club; the people who would be helping the mere eleven of us go through the year successfully. These were the people who were just starting their university life, fresh blood whom we could draw into the club to have the pleasure of working with them for one huge year… This was an immense excitement for the entirety of us. Some of the 219 people that were in our first meeting were going to be creating my sub-group for the year. These people are the source of the many things I gained from this club. I learned crowd management, taking and making constructive criticism, human relations, conflict resolution and most important of all, I learned how amazing of a feeling it is to be able to work with 20+ people to create something you all collectively believe in. The club almost operates in the fashion of an early startup. Everyone, no matter their title, clings on to the least bit of responsibility that they can get. I was the one who helped the marketing department because I was successful in my quest of improving my Adobe CC skills. So, this club added that to me too; the ability to be creative within my work environment. Another thing that this club added to me were amazing partners to work with. I legitimately have a family named the Young Entrepreneurs Society and we even have built up ideas and started implementing them in real life… I have gained an unreal network of people, both professionally and personally. I have met with very prominent people in the business world… I have gained amazing memories of the hardships and the crises we have faced and gone over as a team. The ability to add more to this club was one of the most amazing opportunities presented to me, and it is definitely one I am glad I did not pass on.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my experience in a student club during the second year of my university was an amazing one that I could not have had in any other part of my life. In the first few months, I was a stressed out newbie but as time went through, I have learned how to deal with that stress. I have learned how to deal with people and how to manage them while also gaining friends for life. So I say, if you are ever presented with the opportunity in engaging in a club in your university, take it without hesitation!
