AEGEE's Member of 2018: Réka Salamon

“What? Réka Salamon is Member of the Year again?”, you might say – because Réka Salamon won this title already one year ago. Nevertheless, no other single member came close in the number of votes in the annual Golden Times survey. Every year, the GT is honouring the outstanding Member of the Year. This time, altogether 97 people were nominated and voted by the 69 active members, whose interviews you could read in the past weeks in the Golden Times. It was mainly her hard work for Agora Istanbul that was recognised by the network.

Here are some quotes about Réka:

Elitsa Hadzhieva, Financial manager of Y Vote, President of AEGEE-Sofia, Liaison Officer towards the YFJ: “Ms Salamon and her Istanbul dream. I have never been or will ever be an Agora enthusiast but despite the problems, I think Réka helped the passionate Turkish team of organisers a lot.”

Giuseppe Aquilino, Juridical Commission, AEGEE-Catania: “She was awesome during Agora Istanbul. She spent a year in Istanbul to organize the Agora, she was awesome in problem-solving but, most of all, I never saw someone with such a passion for an association, such an energy and being so motivated in doing stuff for AEGEE, even when everything is against you, even when you gave a lot to AEGEE… So I wish her all the best!”

Timon Turban, Eastern Partnership+ Project, AEGEE-Aachen: “Réka Salamon for what she did in Turkey and what we didn’t really appreciate.”

Novak Simin, Network Commissioner, AEGEE-Novi Sad: “Réka Salamon, for her devotion to Agora Istanbul and AEGEE in general. Moving to Istanbul for three months in order to work on the Agora is something we should all admire. Moreover, it is her dedication and faith in AEGEE which I personally look up to, as even after her term as the President she still kept working full time for our lovely organization.”

Matis Joab, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, AEGEE-Tallinn: “Réka Salamon for her contribution to Agora Istanbul and her huge impact on the network over the years.”

Evrim Emiroğlu, Network Director of AEGEE-Europe, AEGEE-Eskisehir: “Réka Salamon is the craziest person that I saw in this organization. Moving completely to a different country for organizing an Agora – and this for the organization that she has a strong mix of feelings for – this is something that deserves more respect than she received.”

The hero of the new Intranet: Sergey Peshkov

Runner-up was Sergey Peshkov! It desn’t happen so often that IT specialists get the recognition for their work. This time the whole time behind the new Online Membership System was often nominated, but Sergey did even more: he was also part of the chair team and also locally very active. Just a couple of quotes:

Fabrizio Bellicano, Chief of Technical Operations, AEGEE-Genova: “Sergey Peshkoff, aka Mr. “My employer forbid me to work on OMS because apparently during working hours I spend more than 50% of time on AEGEE”. The surprising part is that I see from the worklogs that he also does stuff at night.”

Anya Radul, EaP+ Project, President of AEGEE-Rostov-na-Donu: “Also it would be a shame not to mention Sergey Peshkov a.k.a. Borschhead. Chairing two statutory events as the main IT guy, helping extensively with the organization of our SU – imagine booking tickets from Russia to Ukraine for about 25 foreigners or preparing two different invitation letters for each of them – and still I have never heard something like ‘sorry I can’t do it ask somebody else’ from him.”

Spyros Papadatos, President of AEGEE-Europe, Honorary Member of AEGEE-Ioannina: “I would like to mention the Online Membership System team: Sergey, Nico and Fabrizio. Their work and commitment are not so visible to the network as it should be; but I would like to publicly thank them for this and for helping us make the OMS finally launch earlier this year.”

Mainly CD and Chair members in the top

On the following places are mainly past and present CD members: Tekla Hajdu and Zvonimir Canjuga, who were recognised for their work in the Chair team, María Ballesteros Melero and Viola Bianchetti, who do outstanding support work for AEGEE’s projects, as well as the long-term commitment of Marco Daniele. The only non-CD member in the top group is Academy speaker Lucia Gavulova, whose hard work for AEGEE’s training system is deeply appreciated.