In my third bachelor's year of my engineering degree at KU Leuven, I started to become more and more interested in participating in extra-curricular activities. A couple of friends and I participated in the BCG Strategy Cup, we attended workshops and followed extra lectures. Soon, I realized that those events were fun, but organizing something yourself is much more fun. Of the many student organizations in Leuven, AFT was the best fit for me.
What is AFT?
AFT or Academics for Technology is a mid-sized student organization in Leuven. They have about 25-30 volunteers participating. Each of them is passionate about technology and entrepreneurship. The events ranged from workshops on different topics to the student startup trip (more on this later).
In my first year, I organized the workshops together with Femke. In total, we organized 9 workshops:
- Quantum Computing with IBM
- Mixed reality with In The Pocket
- Agile with Solita
- Data Science and Analytics with Addestino
- RPA with Bright Wolves
- Cyber Security with KPMG
- Web3 with Aviate Labs
- Digital finance with Yuki
- Computer Vision with Apixa
I learned to better manage my time, collaborate with others and successfully (and unsuccessfully) market a workshop. This last skill will become very useful in the following year.
Marketing
In my second year, I was part of the marketing team. This is responsible for the planning and execution of the different activities organized by AFT. This time we were with a team of four people: Manon, Timo, Ulysse and myself. Being a team of 4 people is a completely different way of working than two people. You know need to communicate with multiple people, who all understand and interpret different things in different ways. Besides the new way of working, I learned to create different things in Adobe Illustrator. I worked on posters, flyers, banners, Facebook carousels, videos. Overall, I must say that I worked on at least 100 different designs in our recognizable purple. Finally, I co-wrote some blog posts, which you can still read on my blogpage.
Student Startup Trip in New York City
As the cherry on top of my two years in AFT, I had the opportunity to be part of a group of 35 students, visiting various startups in NYC. I had some of the best days of my life on this trip, laughing and learning. I can honestly say that being part of AFT changed my life for the better!