Hejhej it is Fleur again!

This week I want to tell you about Navitas, a student association I joined here at LiU. First of all, LiU has a LOT of student associations, so it can get a little overwhelming. In the first weeks of the new academic year, all student associations get super active and there are many opportunities to get to know them. One event where all student associations present themselves is Kalas. This is a huge event for (new) students at the beginning of the academic year, usually in September. At this event, you can talk to people from all the different associations, buy patches, become a member, and get free stuff. When I went there in September, I talked to many different associations, but Navitas directly caught my eye. Navitas is a large student association focusing on Sustainable Development at Linköping University. Navitas’ goal is to give all our members the opportunity to learn more about sustainability in a warm, fun, and social environment. As I am studying for a Master of Science in Sustainable Development, this sounded like a perfect association to join!

Besides becoming a member (for free!), and joining the events Navitas organizes, you also have the option to join a committee. They have several committees;

  • The Travel Committee: this is the committee I joined and below I will explain a bit more about my experience with it. But generally, this committee plans and arranges inspiring, exciting, and sustainable trips for Navitas members.
  • The Marketing Committee: here, the members work with everything marketing-related, such as social media, photography, posters, headers, and so on.
  • The Network Committee: their job is to establish contacts and organize events with interesting actors outside of Navitas.
  • The Business Committee: The committee’s work is about maintaining and finding new partnerships. Together with companies the business committee organizes lunch lectures, evening events, and field trips.
  • LiU Student Secondhand Committee: this committee contributes to circularity among students’ furniture consumption by having and maintaining their second-hand shop (located in the A-building at entrance 19 on Campus Valla).
  • The Event Committee: their job is to entertain both Navitas’ members and members of the committees. Therefore, they scout, plan, and execute events for all students.

So, as stated above, I decided to join the Travel Committee. As I have an academic background in Tourism, I thought this would be perfect! To get into a committee in Navitas, there is a bit of a process to go through. Their application process starts in September with filling out a form (found on their Facebook) where you show your interest in the different committees. Then, you get asked to do an interview with them. The interview lasted about 30 minutes, and you get to meet the head of the committee you applied to. During the interview, you get specific questions about your intentions, goals, and skills. After the interview, you have to wait a little while and they will call you with the results. I was lucky enough to get into the Travel Committee! We are a team of 4 and we meet once every week during lunch to discuss our tasks and brainstorm about new ideas. Our main task is to organize a small and a big trip. The small trip will actually be next Sunday (26.11), where we organized a spa day trip to Motala! The big trip will be a 4-5 day trip to somewhere outside of Sweden :). Our main goal is to make the trips as sustainable as possible and to show other students that traveling in a way that does not harm our environment is possible, and a lot of fun! The picture below shows Navitas’ plan for the year:

Besides being part of a Navitas Committee, I also try to join most events Navitas organizes (which are a lot!). At the beginning of the academic year, for example, we had a kick-off sittning for all the new committee members. In October they organize a lot of lunch lectures you can join, and in November they organize the global weeks where they organize a lot of fun events such as clothing/plant swaps, lectures, and movie screenings.

So, if you are interested in sustainability and want to get active in a student association, I would definitely recommend joining Navitas! Becoming a member is free, and you can join all of their events (and the trips ;). Joining the Travel Committee definitely made my student life in Linköping more interesting and fun. In general, I would really recommend finding a student association that fits your interests and getting active in it!

If you have any more questions about Navitas or student associations in general, feel free to ask me anything!

/ Fleur, Master of Science for Sustainable Development

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