Active Summer Participants

Alexander Dodge Vice President Global Community Development, Incoming Exchange. Aiesec Trondheim Nationality: USA Living in: Trondheim, Norway Age: 22 University: Norwegian University of Science and Technology Studies: Social Anthropology About me: Ever since I was a child it had always been my dream to live in Norway and to travel around the world. My Great-Grandmother was Norwegian and she used to take me to Kristiansand when I was young and we would live in a cozy little cabin by the coastline. Coming to Norway was the best decision I have made in my life and it has defined who I am as a person. I am someone who always looks for opportunity in whatever I do. I always imagine myself 50 years from now looking back at the decisions I made and being proud of what I have done in my life. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: Through this project I hope to show why it is so important for students in Trondheim to be engaged in making a positive impact in their local community. As students I believe it is important that we work together with actors in our local community in order to create opportunities for others and help others in need. For me I believe that the children from the Asylum Center are in need of positive activities where they can develop and learn, as well as developing confidence in themselves. I believe that by working together with our partners in the project and through the team we have selected, that we will help build friendships between children from the Asylum Center and children from Trondheim and give them a great opportunity to learn about the world and how cultural diversity is important in order to learn, to be tolerant, and to be able to respect one another. I also hope to build great experiences for everyone involved in the project and to ensure quality, sustainability, and a learning experience.

SIDDHARTH TOMAR Global Community Development Intern- Group Leader Active Summer, AIESEC Trondheim NATIONALITY: INDIAN LIVES IN: New Delhi, INDIA AGE: 22 UNIVERSITY : Faculty Of Law, University Of Delhi STUDIES: Law About me: Hi I am Siddharth Tomar I was born and brought up in New Delhi, India. I have lived my entire life in Delhi only. I love to travel and have travelled to various places in India. I consider myself to be quite a humorous person and believe that in order to enjoy your life the element of humor must run in parallel. I love dancing, playing, killing time and almost everything. The positive point in me is that I am never bored. What I hope to Achieve from Active Summer: I am highly motivated to be a part of Active Summer as Norway is a country based on the egalitarian society model and I have always dreamt of visiting a country like this. Here I am getting an opportunity to work with children and give these children a better approach towards their life and instill in them the art of loving and enjoying every moment of their life. I believe that every person can be happy no matter what the circumstances, as everything just depends on the approach towards one’s life. During the course of this project if I am able to motivate and change even a single students approach towards life, I will consider this project 100% successful.

Sanae EL HABBARI Global Community Development Intern Active Summer - Aiesec Trondheim. Nationality: Moroccan Living in: Casablanca, Morocco Age: 20 y.o University: National School of Management and Trade of Casablanca (Third year). Studies: Financial Management. About me: I spent my childhood in a small city called « Kenitra » near to the capital, and I was quite timide, living in my little world. When I took my baccalaureat, I got accepted in this school in Casablanca, and it was the key for me to discover a new world, meet different students from all over Morocco and also from other countries in Africa. As I had much languages courses and used internet to talk with friends from many countries, I started dreaming about discovering the whole world, and that was so much exciting. I become so enthusiastic, open minded and serious, having as life goal, attending Happiness.  What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: This project will let me feel about underprivileged children's problems, help them to develop their understanding of life issues, also, to defend their rights…Seeing children smiles and hearing their laughter is the main goal of my participation. In addition, Active Summer will be my first experience outside of my country, it’ll be the best start to achieve my dreams, especially in such wonderful country : Norway. I’d like to visit as much places as I can, and to live a unique experience, sharing time with all participants, AIESEC’ers and little cute children ^.^ Getting the opportunity to develop my skills and abilities in communication and cultural management, practicing the English language and improving my languages skills by enriching my vocabulary.

Kalograiaki Chara Global Community Development Intern, Dance Active Summer-Aiesec Trondheim Nationality:Greek Living in:Thessaloniki,Greece Age:19 University:Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Studies:English Language and Literature About me: I grew up in a small town of North Greece called Serres. When I was a child I had no great expectations of my life; I just wanted to become a psychologist and have a normal life living in my hometown. By the age of twelve, though, many successive events started changing my entire attitude towards the world and life. I started travelling around the world which affected greatly my mentality, I met some very interesting people, but most of all I started dealing with art, which I consider to be the only thing that can really change a person. I would spend long hours reading books, trying to figure out the hidden messages that would answer my questions and I would constantly listen to rock music which is to date one of my greatest passions. My love towards the arts has defined who I am as a person and lead me to choose English Language and Literature as my major. Years later I am still wandering looking for my answers, trying to make the trip of knowledge and life worth taking. For now, my steps bring me to Norway, a country I have never been to, but somehow has always been lying behind many important incidents in my life. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer Active Summer will give me the opportunity to gain an experience of working with underprivileged children,thus find out more about children’s rights and become more aware and active as a citizen of this world.In these days that society suffers both from the financial and the moral decline,the only way to improve the world is to come to the fore.In addition,Active Summer will give me the chance to meet many new people,from completely different backgrounds and civilizations,which,in my opinion,broadens one’s horizons and makes him more tolerant and round as a character.I hope that through Active Summer we will achieve a partial societal change,which,in the best case scenario,can constitute the beginning of a new life for these children and in the worst case it will just remain in their memory as their most beautiful experience during their childhood.Seeing these children happy and carefree and knowing that I,myself,played a part as well gives me a great sense of satisfaction.

Övünç Sevinç Global Community Development Programme Intern, Team Building Active Summer - AIESEC Trondheim Nationality: Turkish Living in: Istanbul, Turkey Age: 22 University:Istanbul University Studies: Philosophy About me: My name is Övünç Sevinç, currently living in Istanbul-Turkey, originally from Turkey. I have two passions in my life; my cello and the child development. I always consider myself as a socially responsible leader, especially with the children issues. My philosophy about it is that today's child is tomorrow's adult who will shape the world. Since my primary school I have never missed a chance to get involved or create various projects for children. Last year I managed a nationwide and long term project in Turkey, 'Cultural Platform of Children', aims to increase children's cultural consciousness through Turkey. In addition, I believe, diversity environments make young individuals believe that they can change the world; as today’s young people, we have responsible from the future of the world. Besides, I love Norway and Norwegian Culture, I have always wondered about Norway since I read the book ‘Sofies Verden, Jostein Gaarder’ when I was 10. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: I think Active Summer will be a perfect example that how improving it is to get involve such diversity environment for children from the Asylum Center. With our team we will give the idea that people are united with their differences. We will build new friendship foundations for them, make them envision more about life and of course make them have fun, in other words, like project’s name, make them get involve an ‘Active Summer’. We will do a positive impact to world since changing world is starting with changing a life. Also for me, it’s going to be an amazing opportunity to be part of it because recently, I have been doing a research ‘Asylum Seeker Children’s Psychology and Improving Their Social Profile in Turkey’ for my class so I think my knowledge will help me in the process.

Dora Mok Global Community Development Programme Intern, Dance Active Summer - AIESEC Trondheim Nationality: Hong Kong Living in: Hong Kong Age: 21 University: Hong Kong Baptist University Studies: European Studies - French Streams About me: I have always wanted to travel around the world to see what is out there, to check out the beautiful scenery, the unexpected people and the unforgettable feeling I get. Growing up in a traditional chinese family makes me want to know more about western culture, this is why I chose European Studies as my major. The world is so big that we should never trap ourselves in one tiny place.Having this in mind, I know that I have to step out of Hong Kong and travel around, to learn other languages and cultures, to enrich myself by absorbing the diversity. Sometimes, I feel lost about my life and my situation, but i always believe that I will find a way out and figure out what I want. For this moment, I am sure that my goal is in Europe so I am coming all way long to reach it! I guess this is the meaning of life: find out your goal and reach it with passion! What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: Active Summer is a meaningful project and I’m sure that the things I learn here will benefit me for my whole life. Being the first time to get in touch with asylum seekers, I hope that I can make them feel proud of who they are, feel proud of their background, their own unique culture. We are depending each other in this world and we should always help people around us. It is easy for them to feel being ignored or discriminated, but I want to let them know they deserve equality and rights, together with the happiness of being respect and enjoying life with people around them even though they are of different backgrounds.

Guo Wei Global Community Development Programme Intern, Sports Active Summer - AIESEC Trondheim Nationality: China Living in: Singapore Age: 21 University: National University of Singapore Studies: Statistics and Economics About me: I am Guo Wei from China. I am currently an overseas student in National University of Singapore. I am also the scholarship holder attached to the Singapore Enterprises and Government. I spent the first eighteen years living in China where I gained a lot of knowledge about the tradition and history. When I stepped into my second part in my life which is in Singapore, I became mature and more active in daily lives. Singapore has given me the chance to obtain a global view towards many matters in the world. I like traveling. Other than Singapore, I used to go to Malaysia. It is the first time for me to go out of Asia, which will be definitely exciting. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: I am in charge of the sports department in this project. Personally speaking, I am not the professional player but I used to take some training sessions in Table Tennis, Basketball, Swimming and etc. My favorite sport is Billiards especially Snooker which is very popular in Europe. It will be nice if I can try some new sports such as skiing in Norway. To take part in this programme, I can work with students with different backgrounds and from various countries. This will enhance my communication skills as well as the teamwork spirits. What is more, I can bring what I know in China and Singapore to the children in Norway. I hope that they will enjoy all about that. Active Summer focuses on fostering the engagement and positive attitude towards cultural diversity which is not only meaningful for the children in Trondheim but also for our interns ourselves.

Abigail Alston Global Community Development Programme Intern, English Language Active Summer-Aiesec Trondheim Nationality: American Living in: Lugano, Switzerland Age: 20 University: Franklin College CH Studies: International Relations About me: I grew up in New Jersey and moved to Switzerland for university. I’ve lived there for 2 years now and study International Relations. I decided to go to university in Switzerland because I love to travel and learn about different cultures. My major reflects this because I get to learn about how the world operates. I also study Italian and work to receive my English Language Teaching certificate. I’ve taught English in various schools to various age and skill levels. Since I was approximately 12 I’ve wanted to go to Norway more than any other place. This is because at the time I was a bit of a pseudo metal head, and although this sentiment has faded, the long lasting desire to go to Norway has remained. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: Through Active Summer I hope to gain more real life experience working with children and teaching English. The aspect of Active Summer that appeals to me the most is the fact that we will be working with children from the Asylum Center which will enable me to learn more about these issues and contribute to their well being and make a real difference. I also am really excited to meet new people from different cultures, work with them and learn from them.

Maria Al Hinai Global Community Development Intern, Arts & Handcrafts Active Summer - Aiesec Trondheim Nationality: Omani Living in: Leeds, UK Age: 20 University: University of Leeds Studies: Genetics About me: I am a firm believer that the key to success is not only hard work but also allowing myself to do the things I enjoy. I love traveling, it gives me an overwhelming feeling I don’t usually understand. I also enjoy spending time with children because I find it easier to communicate with them rather than with adults. I find inspiration in new places and around creative people and I think children are the most creative people out there. In my free time, I enjoy blogging, reading and practice my photography skills. I think the opportunity I am given in Norway by the project managers will help me do the things I enjoy the most. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: It is important to educate children about the importance of accepting people of different backgrounds and cultures. Being able to have children accepting different cultures at an earlier age helps them to grow up in a more peaceful environment. Through Active Summer, not only do I want to help children of different ages and nationalities to accept each other in a fun environment but also to give myself a chance to understand different cultures. Making friends from different parts of the world will also help me gain experience in improving my communication skills and also allow me to go back home and raise cultural awareness to those who are unable to leave Oman and meet people of different backgrounds.

Judith Bilbao Global Community Development Programme Intern, Team Building Active Summer - AIESEC Trondheim Nationality: Spanish Living in: Gernika, Basque Country (Spain) Age: 24 University: University of the Basque Country Studies: 1- Industrial Chemical Engineering. 2- Master´s degree in Secondary Level Teacher Formation on Technology. About me: My name is Judith and I Iive in a small town which has a lot of history, Gernika. I grew up in a typical Basque family with my parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and so on. We all live in the same town and we are a very very big family. I have worked for 7 years in summer camps here . Apart from that, I have also been working as an engineer and I also love my work as an engineer but I always wanted to teach children, that´s why I did the degree on education. I also give extra lessons in my house as a private teacher of maths, physics, chemistry and technology. Nowadays, there is a huge financial crisis in Spain so all the young people are unemployed, also parents. I love travelling, I have been to England, France, Italy, Holland, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany, so Norway is the next. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: This Summer Camp is going to be really different for me because I got used to work in English Summer Camps in Spain which are really different. Here we usually have 80 children, 8-9 monitors, 1 coordinator, 1 assistant and a director. In the mornings we teach English lessons and in the afternoons we divided groups to do differents activities, such as, canoeing, surfing, handicrafts, snorkeling, beaching, games, cooking, water aerobics, rowing, dances, trips....and so on. This children are not from the asylum center so it would be a challenge for me to work with children from the asylum center because is going to be the first time. I hope to learn a lot about different cultures, to make lot of friends and to teach my culture to the others. The situation in Spain is very complicated because we have different cultures inside, like Basque or Catalan which are asking for independence. I feel Basque and in my daily life I speak Basque ( I am bilingual) that´s why I did not put the flag from Spain but I have not got any problem to show you both cultures. I also hope to learn from children because they are always treasures and I will try them to feel good with me and with the others. And of course, I hope to improve my English.

Boris Hanyung Jang Global Community Development Programme Intern, Music Active Summer - AIESEC Trondheim Nationality: South Korean Living in: Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom Age: 19 University: University of Newcastle Studies: Business Management About me: I was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea and moved to Wellington, New Zealand when I turned 13. I lived in New Zealand for 4 and a half years until I decided to finish my high school years in an international school in United Kingdom, where I had the opportunity to meet people from all over the planet and get to understand different cultures. Naturally, I grew huge interests towards travelling, and meeting people from different culture. I am more than excited to be participating in this fantastic team and very happy for this opportunity I was given to experience Norway! What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: I started playing the guitar when I moved into New Zealand. Throughout my study years, I have been playing at concerts, cathedrals, streets, schools, bars, parties and pretty much anywhere I would go to have fun outdoors. Music have always been my passion and it always helped me to reduce stress while allowing me to have fun in different situations. I believe music have no border and no discrimination, and this is why I believe participating in Active Summer will be so valuable to me, as educating children about these aspects of music will help me learn just as much as the children, just how powerful music can be.

Angad Dhindsa Active Summer Exchange Participant: Arts and Handicrafts AIESEC DC Nationality: Indian Living in: Edison, New Jersey Age: 18 University: The George Washington University Studies: International Affairs About me: I was born in India and lived there until I was ten, after which I moved to the United States where I currently reside. I go to school at The George Washington University in Washington, DC and am studying international affairs. I think it’s great that I get to study my field in a place like DC due to the fact that it is a major location for global politics. I have always loved travelling and have visited many places, but never Norway so I’m excited. I have a very eclectic music taste and listen to a lot of various styles of music. I have a passion for photography as it is a hobby of mine. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: I hope to learn a lot about different cultures through interaction with the children as well as interaction with my fellow EP’s. I’m excited to be learning about a different culture and do break down cultural barriers/stereotypes people may have.

Harona Mbah Global Community Development Intern, Theatre Active Summer - AIESEC Trondheim. Nationality: Cameroonian Living in: Douala, Cameroon University: University of Douala Studies: Organizational Management About me: I am the flexible noise maker (especially within my comfort zone) most timid people would hate to meet. I talk about everything and about nothing. I love to work in a friendly and relaxed environment as I try to associate humor to almost everything I do. Most colleagues find it difficult to say when Harona is serious and when he is not. That is me!!! I was given birth to in the North West Region of Cameroon: hmm; I know you‘ll be referring to your Google maps to find out where this Country is located. Never mind, you’ll be surprised when you get to know the real facts about the Country usually referred to as Africa-in-miniature. Born in an English speaking Region, I was fortunate to do my higher education in the French speaking zone of the Country. I would be confident when I get so speak French with You. What I hope to achieve through Active Summer: Just the phrases International Internship Experience in my cv make it get the much needed weight and attention when I return to my fatherland. After a wonderful experience in AIESEC, drifting from a member, through Project Director, Vice President and later President of my Local committed, an international internship is the only weapon lacking to crown and complete the most prestigious AIESEC XP circle. Active summer happens to presents itself as the right opportunity at the right time. Through this, I look forth to having the experience of work in the most diverse team ever. Addressing the issue of interaction and integration to the underprivileged is a topic than runs deep through my veins. I look forward to creating an impact prior to my departure from Trondheim.