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Linking Young Minds Together
     Volume 2 Issue 84 | August 31 , 2008|


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Feature

AIESEC SummerCo 2008
Taking The First Step

AIESEC Bangladesh has just completed the recruitment of 200 Bangladeshi talents through its local offices in North South University, BRAC University, Independent University, Bangladesh and American International University, Bangladesh. The whole recruitment process took over a month to complete, and to round it off, a 3-day conference was organized for all the new members.

SummerCo 2008, the annual national induction conference is aimed at introducing the new AIESEC members to the network of AIESEC and all the exciting opportunities it offers. This year the conference was held in Elenga Resort, Tangail from July 31 till August 02, 2008. It was sponsored by Gallerie Apex, Akij Foods and Beverages Ltd along with CMYK, Paper Tools Ltd. and FutureEd Corporation.

The trip to Elenga began on a fine Thursday morning, with all 200 delegates packed and ready for an exciting three days. All of them reached the venue to receive a thundering welcome from the organizing committee lead by Shabbir Mamun. With the inspiring “Ahoban” playing in the background, the delegates were ushered in to the conference hall. The chair of conference was to be Mr. Anayet Rashid, AIESEC Alumni and currently working as Director, Lalmai Group. The facilitators for the conference included the executive body members of AIESEC Bangladesh and two executive bodies from the local offices.

The next 3 days were meant to be the most memorable experience of all the new members. Starting with basic AIESEC introductory sessions till the fast pace simulations every delegate was pushed to their limits. The conference of course began with the entire delegation split into 13 teams, and it was in these teams that they were going to work all the time. In the first day, they worked on researching issues that they feel are most alarming. Issues like HIV/AIDs, Domestic Violence, and Water Body Filling got a lot of attention. They prepared campaign plans and finally debated each other to compete for an imaginary donation of 1 million dollars. The concept of AIESEC international internships was introduced in Day 2, and the delegates learnt how to manage such internships. Another interesting activity was taking part in the Belbin test, which identified their leadership type, highlighting some common strengths and weaknesses. They also participated in a simulation targeted to educate them on the usage of the AIESEC global information system, MyAIESEC.net. They ended up living the entire AIESEC life in 3 hours!! If that wasn't rocking enough, Day 3 got them involved in playing a game called Life. In the 2 hours, they had to simulate an experience of living life, earning money, making relationships, getting jobs, losing money and often getting discriminated because of their status in society. A one stop experience of living in other people's shoes!!

That was the last activity of the conference, and it was almost time to head home. By now the sugar cubes were up on the walls and it was time to write goodbye messages. These were small mementos for each delegate, memories of an experience they ought not to forget. The conference was closed with motivating words from the Chair and President of AIESEC Bangladesh and delegates were now ready to take the next step!!

(Department of Communications, AIESEC Bangladesh)

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