The Students’ League from Galati
Position held: President, 2000-2002
The Students’ League from Galati is a non-profit organization that promotes the interests of the students from Lower Danube University at all levels of University leadership and of Government. I became member of this organization in my first month of student life, in October, 1998. My first contact with the staff was with a Freshman’s Ball and I can tell that Galati has a long tradition in organizing this event. We collaborated with directors like Claudiu Perusco and Catalin Vasiliu and with choreographers like Gelu and Dana Baciu. In my second year, I was elected to represent the students from the Faculty of Economics in the Council of the Faculty and in teh Senate of the University. In teh same year I was elected member of the Managing Board of the Students’ League. After approximately one year of coaching and training with Dinu Gindu, President at that time, I was elected President in 2000.
When I took over the leadership, the organization was very popular with its union activities. Dinu had a very strong personality in this domain, and managed to influence the student movement at the national level. I decided to develop the projects side of the organization and applied for national and international funding. This is how, together with a very good team, we managed to obtain funding for projects like “The Center for Youth Information and Counseling EUROPA,” international youth exchanges under the European Commission’s YOUTH Program and the Freshman’s Ball 2001.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
1. The Center for Youth Information and Counseling “EUROPA”
The purpose of the Center was to offer the students from Galati the possibility to conduct relevant research for their studies, free of charge and with access to the latest technical equipment. The Center was hosted at the Cultural House of Students and allowed students to access the Internet to find information for research papers, scholarships, exams, jobs, and funding opportunities. There were qualified volunteers who offered guidance and counseling. The Center also hosted seminars and benefited from partnership agreements with the City of Galati to access more relevant information. The project received a generous funding from the Co-operating Netherlands Foundations for Central and Eastern Europe of approximately EUR 15.000.
Here are images from the preparation of the Center:
And here are images from the launching ceremony and the press conference:
2. The International Youth Exchanges
In the summer of 2000, I was selected by EUROTIN Agency to attend an English Language Course in International Youth Project Management in Hungary, under the framework of European Commission’s YOUTH Program. This is how I discovered grant writing! As a follow-up of this training, I organized and attended, together with other member of the Students’ League, multilateral exchange programs in France and Sweden and a bilateral one in Romania. All the projects benefited from EU grants. [Photos and more details to come]
3. Freshman’s Ball 2001
The year 2001 will always be remembered in history as the year of the terrorist attacks from New York and Washington. These events really influenced me and I am sure most of the members of the Students’ League. As a result, we decided to give the ball a theme related to American traditions. Gelu Baciu and Catalin Vasiliu staged a wonderful show, with four important parts. All the students from the clips below are the participants for the Miss and Mister contest.
Participants presentation:
Indians and Cowboys:
The prohibition period:
[There is one more coreography that I will publish once I finish editing]
———————————————————————————————————————————————
The Students’ League from Galati has a history that started in 1995. At the beginning, students joined to form an organization to solve pressing social problems. The Ministry of Education was the main target for their actions. Important strikes were organized during 1995 – 2000. Beginning with 2001, there was a shift towards organizing projects in various domains like tourism, ecology, youth exchanges, or youth centers, while keeping the union character. Below, there are some old photos from the Organization’s main events from 1995 until 2001. Most of them belong to my good friend Dinu.