By Eden van der Moere
Only two weeks ago, Steven van de Graaf, 19 years old, shocked the community when he publicly stated that he was not running for anything. This week, however, Steven is running for something. Whether it is the result of a carefully calculated campaign or an honest decision based on two years of consideration, it is official: Steven is running for AAC Chair.
Why are you running for said position?
At this point, it’s the only big board position that’s still available, but it’s also a position I have been thinking about running for for two years now. Last Sunday, I finally made the decision to do so, after quite some second-guessing and doubting.
What made you change you mind?
The thing is, the thought about running for AAC Chair was still buried in the back of my mind. So after the election GA, all those doubts and second-guesses resurfaced. Again, the opportunity had arisen to run for AAC Chair.
Last Sunday, I was doing laundry and I had a very good conversation with Corine (Fontijn, red.) who basically shared her experience, which was very similar to mine. She gave me the advice to just run, so I followed her up on it.
If you do get elected, what do you want to change or improve?
That’s the beauty of it, I don’t think I have the best ideas and visions for the AAC per se. As in, me specifically. I see the AAC board as a car, where the rest of my board would decide on navigation, by taking over the steering wheel with their ideas and their visions, while I make their ideas become reality by pushing the pedal to the metal, in that sense.
I’m an idea-guy, sure, but I trust that the newly-elected AAC board has better ones than I have, which I want to make reality. And most importantly, I want to build upon what the past AAC boards have been doing.
Having said that, why should people vote for you?
Me specifically?
Yeah.
Other than that I am a team-player, I have a lot of experience with boards at UCR. I have been the chair of TLS, part of the Tabula RASA daily board, part of the IT-Team and End of Term Party team. But most importantly, I’ve been a Scout leader for three years now, which has gained me a lot of experience with leadership, cooperation and the realization that a leader is nothing without its team. I’m a strong believer of that.
Any last words?
Yes. The current AAC board has been doing a very good job, the newly-elected AAC board are very competent, capable and smart people and the people running against me are also very competent, capable and smart – so whoever of us becomes AAC Chair, I know that the AAC will be in good hands.
Eden van der Moere, Class of 2017, is a Literature & Linguistics major from Goes, The Netherlands.
