By Maddy Slot
As a young girl, Lizette Krist moved from her hometown of Utrecht to the exciting yet daunting new city of Hong Kong. She took on this new challenge with a passion and sense of determination. During her adventurous times as an international student in Hong Kong, she has managed to deal with unexpected circumstances such as living in below-average housing situations, and she negotiated with housing providers from another culture. With her outspoken confidence and determination, she managed to make the most of it, developing strong communication skills along the way. This is why Lizette Krist, a 4th semester pre-med and human geography student, believes that she can be the new chair of the Housing Affairs Council.
HAC is a board that everyone has to come in contact with, from the moment we move in until the moment we move out and everything in between, and Krist acknowledges that the HAC works very hard to make sure communication runs smoothly between students and Villex, and that the students have as pleasant a stay as possible during their three years at UCR. “The HAC gives students a united voice when negotiating our housing conditions; it allows us to make sure student interest is always heard.” Krist believes that the students should have a say in how they spend their time in Middelburg and making sure they feel at home. Even though she acknowledges that the work HAC does is usually behind closed doors with the management team or with Villex, Krist would like to increase the accessibility and visibility of the HAC so more students can feel comfortable to approach the HAC with their housing or contractual concerns.
Since the HAC is an important component of our student community, it is important to have a chair that is not only good at her job, but also enjoys it. Krist is motivated to make the HAC run smoothly, dedicated to working hard and working on short- and long-term goals. She particularly emphasises the importance of working hard as a team, especially in collaboration with the campus elders since they know their campus location best. Not only is she driven, she can also communicate and mediate, knowing how to hear the opinions of her fellow board members and communicating an aligned message to the outside parties and negotiate for the best interest of all students. With experience in leadership positions and organisational functions, Krist believes herself to be a motivated, hard-working team player who would enjoy being the voice of the student community in terms of housing.
As a final note, Krist says that she wants “to make sure every student feels at home in their own rooms and that they have peace of mind living there”. Knowing the importance of having a place where you feel at home away from home, Lizette Krist would like you to consider her for the position of HAC Chair.
Maddy Slot, class of 2016, is an Art History and Literature major from Eindhoven, The Netherlands
