Leadership Experience in Romania

My name is Urs Schweigert and I would very much like to share with you a story of internationalism, leadership, a train crash, an earthquake and a large international conference with swine-flue-ly follow up procedures - the story of my year as national committee vice president for global internships of AIESEC in Romania. But as Mick Jagger already said ‘You can’t always get what you want’, I am going to restrict this entry to a few very brief instances. However I encourage you to approach me via email or in person.

Thank you AIESEC Kaiserslautern for
helping me walk my first steps.

For me, the member committee congress 2008 was probably the hardest election procedure I have gone through. However, after one hour of presentation and questions that followed and two days of waiting, I was very happy to have been given the vote of confidence as one out of two from seven applications. This told me something about Romanians.

My admiration goes to these AIESECers that are not willing to go with the second best choice. It is either the best or nothing. After the election conference, I had to pass another interview with the current national president and the president elect, as well as two alumni and recruitment specialists, before I was allowed to call myself vice president for global internships of AIESEC in Romania for the term 2009/10.

At the transition conference at the end of March 2009, the former and passing national president spoke some words that will always remain in my memory:

“The votes that you were elected with are like a suit that is always a little bit too large. No matter how big you are, and you will strive to grow into it”

And this is how I felt. From my operational team of local presidents, which were extraordinarily prepared, to my national team; every single one was an expert on his or her area! - From the first moment, I felt the passion and drive that helped me to grow into the person I am today.

This brings me to my team, the people I worked and lived with for almost 14 months. Ela, Diana, Laura, Cristi, Dragos, Dutu, Iulian and the boss Vlad - I thank them for the time we could share and for what I have learned. AIESEC Romania has a reality that very much differs from the reality here in Germany. The organization consists of about 1600 members, out of which about 300 are short term members.
AIESEC has been repeatedly recognized for its efforts in educational and community development. Being a member of this organization is highly prestigious. This leads to a high working motivation that was reflected during the conferences during the year.

I had the pleasure of sharing ten national conferences with Romania and many regionals and many locals, out of which many were memorable for their productivity, passion and impact. It is quite extraordinary to host a 450 delegate conference with international diplomatic guests and I am proud to have been part of this team and to call myself alumnus of AIESEC in Romania.

One of the highlights during my term definitely was the international congress, the world’s largest AIESEC conference with 650 delegates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Very seldom I felt this much for the spirit of positive change, as when one of the fathers of the organizational values talked to us about European piece development. In the six years I have spent in the organization nothing compares to the feeling of belonging and purpose that I had during my term. Thank you AIESEC Kaiserslautern for helping me walk my first steps.