End-of-Year Snacks & Drinks Event

With exams completed and summer vacation around the corner, Wittenborg’s End-of-Year Snacks & Drinks event attracted almost ninety students, teachers and staff. The event, held on 7 July at the Apeldoorn and Amsterdam campuses, was graced by President and Chair of Wittenborg Peter Birdsall and CEO Maggie Feng.

The main aims of the simple event were to get informal feedback from students and also to familiarise new students with the Wittenborg family. It was an opportunity to bring together freshmen, sophomores and graduating students with Wittenborg teachers and staff under one roof, making them feel motivated to come back to campus in the new academic year.

For Nigerian student Elizabeth Ifionu, who started her studies in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a refreshing and uplifting experience. Ifionu, an MBM student of Logistics and International Trade, said that after one year of online learning, attending the Snacks & Drinks bash gave her the chance to meet up with friends and teachers. “It was a really nice experience, as it gives me close-up connection physically to those virtual faces of my classmates. It was also a chance for me to widen my social circle by meeting students from other programmes and specialisations or teachers and staff whom I have not met before.”

Enthusiastic to meet classmates and staff 'live'

The event at the Amsterdam campus saw students and staff sitting together at a long table with food and drinks aplenty. Commenting on the event, Wittenborg's Amsterdam Campus Manager, Iryna Bernatska, said that the students and staff discussed everything and anything under the sun - the weather, traditions, families, culture and their experiences in the Netherlands. Students were also curious as regards to the new academic year and wanted to know when physical classes would start. MBA International Management student, Bahareh Bolhassani from Iran, remarked, "It was such a great experience after such a long break to come to campus and meet our classmates and new staff 'live'. We discussed some cultural differences and it was nice to meet different people with diverse cultures".  

Mehdi Sadri, an MBA Entrepreneurship & Innovation student, who joined Wittenborg in May, commented, "I am so happy to finally meet classmates and faculty members in person. It was such an amazing and friendly atmosphere. In addition, I had a chance to visit the Amsterdam campus for the first time."

Bernatska added, "It is always nice to have a chat with students in informal situations. You get to know their personalities and build closer connections. I could see how enthusiastic they were to chat with us and they did not want to leave. We all hope that our regular gathering will be back to normal starting from September".

WUP 11/7/2021
by Hanna Abdelwahab
©WUAS Press