Joining the Student Federation: a lot of responsibility but a lot of fun too!
10/25/2021
The associative dimension is very present at IÉSEG. It contributes to the development of students in parallel to their studies. Media, sports, culture and society, gastronomy, entrepreneurship, humanitarian or CSR, more than 50 associations on the Lille and Paris – La Défense campuses allow each student to get involved, to grow and to prepare for responsibilities in the corporate world.
Among those, a fundamental structure: the Student Federation, which brings together 15 students and oversees the associative life at the School. We met with the president, Élise SUPAU (in first year of the Master in ‘International Business Economics’ of the Grande École Program on the Lille campus), and vice-president, Noé LEFEBVRE (in first year of the Master in ‘Digital Marketing’ of the Grande École Program on the Paris campus).
Before joining the Student Federation, Élise and Noé had very different associative paths: the Arts Bureau (BDA), the Games Bureau (BDJ) and then the Students’ Bureau (BDE) for Élise, the Sports Bureau (BDS) for Noé. But for both of them, the associative life has the same objective: to make sure that IÉSEG students have the best experience possible.
“As soon as I arrived at IÉSEG, I immediately wanted to get involved in this very rich community life and bring my personal touch. Organizing large-scale events, bringing pleasure, sometimes help, brings you a lot of personal satisfaction. The associative life allows us to reach the unreachable, to succeed in organizing what we didn’t think we could within the time and budget given. After the BDA and the BDE, joining the Federation was the logical next step for me”, says Élise SUPAU.
“The BDS has been for me a great vector of integration within the School. Wherever you come from, from France or abroad, whatever your class year is, the association brings us all together around a common passion and a common goal. Each association defines you, allows you to become more professional, to grow and to discover yourself. Thanks to the BDS, I have grown a lot and I wanted to pass on to others some of this passion by joining the Student Federation”, explains Noé LEFEBVRE.
“Concretely, our role is threefold: we are there to create links between students and campuses, and we therefore coordinate the School’s major inter-campus events, such as the IÉSEG Weekend, the Gala and the Sports and Artistic Weekend. Secondly, we allocate financial resources in an equitable manner among all the actors of the associative life so that each association has the means to achieve its actions and projects. Finally, we represent all the students at the School, notably by sitting on the IÉSEG Board of Trustees. We are therefore there to bring up their opinions, their questions and their wishes, but also to disseminate the official information of the School”, explains Élise SUPAU.
Two major initiatives were also implemented this year. “We have appointed a single contact person for each campus. This means that each association and each student have a personalized, privileged and human contact with us and therefore with the School, which facilitates exchanges and (re)builds trust. Secondly, we have created a CSR unit to help associations take this dimension into account in their actions and to develop sustainable initiatives, such as waste management and the systematic implementation of waste sorting during events. Finally, we have looked for sponsors who are part of this approach, such as Cy-Clope, which collects and recycles cigarette butts, Healse, which offers infinite hydro-alcohol gel in recyclable bottles, or Papernest, which helps international students with their administrative procedures and their search for accommodation”, adds Noé LEFEBVRE.
Both Elise and Noé agree on this point: “Thanks to the Federation, we have learned a lot about ourselves. We have learned to stand up for ourselves and to defend our ideas, to speak in public in front of the students and the General Management and to have the right posture to get the right messages across. We have to be better organized, as we hold a second full-time position! You have to know how to manage your time efficiently, to manage your priorities. Finally, it is a real management experience: we have learned to delegate, to manage a team of volunteers and especially to manage conflicts. Thanks to the Federation, we are able to carry out projects on a large scale! We reach many more people than in our previous experiences. We contribute, at our level, to the influence of the School and to the integration of international students, we give them a vision of what France is that they will then share with others… It is therefore a lot of responsibility but it is above all a lot of fun! In the end, that’s what we were looking for when we got involved: to get out of our comfort zone to help others, to help them meet each other, to help them unfold their potential. What a pleasure!
Their commitment to associations is anything but a coincidence… Later, Noé LEFEBVRE wishes to get involved in an association to improve the schooling of young children in developing countries. As for Élise SUPAU, she wants to work to change the place of women in society through educational policies and to reinforce the parity between men and women in companies as well as in our societies. A civic commitment in perfect alignment with IÉSEG’s Vision, “Empowering changemakers for a better society”!