The new AEGEE Contact in Deventer got a little help from AEGEE-Enschede. Its board members have been members of the Dutch power antenna for a while. But now they are ready to bring AEGEE spirit to one of the few places in Europe that never had an AEGEE contact or local before. The GT spoke with the three board members Matthias Heindl (Chair), Lieve Casteels (Secretary) and Mirthe Wijnveen (Treasurer).
Golden Times: Congratulations for becoming officially an AEGEE Contact! How excited are you to be part of AEGEE?
Matthias, Lieve and Mirthe: Beyond excited, not just to be a part of the network, but also to see what the future holds.
When did you officially become a contact?
We received the news that our application had been approved on 20 May.
When and how did you hear about AEGEE for the first time?
All of us are members of AEGEE-Enschede, so the first impression was a while ago and the memories are a little hazy.
How many members do you have right now?
Our group chat has 34 members at the moment, though it must be noted that most of them are also members of a different local in AEGEE. We will formalise our membership procedure soon, but we’ve certainly seen lots of enthusiasm, especially from members of various Dutch locals.
Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?
Matthias is a big fan of photography and road cycling. He still hasn’t finished his Bachelor’s in Industrial Design. Oh, and he’ll be an Interim Netcommie until Autumn Agora 2025. Lieve likes to find hidden gems in thrift shops and loves bad reality TV, preferably with an iced coffee or Aperol spritz in hand. She occasionally remembers she’s an Industrial Product Design student. Mirthe enjoys swimming, plays the French Horn and is working on her Bachelor’s in Technical Medicine. All three of us are big fans of the mini packets of white wine that we found at Carrefour in Bilbao.
You said you joined AEGEE-Enschede before. Can you tell us more?
Lieve and Matthias were in the Core Team of Spring Agora Enschede 2023 and have each amassed quite a bit of AEGEE event experience, with Agorae attended as both visitor and delegate. Lieve also attended EPM Istanbul 2025, while Matthias attended EPM Eindhoven 2024, SU Firenze in 2023, and most recently, the Europe on Track 11 stop in Osnabrück. Mirthe has lots of experience at the local level in Enschede and attended her first Agora in Bilbao, and will also be part of AEGEE-Enschede’s 2025-2026 board, as Internal & European Responsible.
So how come that you are creating a contact in Deventer now?
The idea was born at Spring Agora Bilbao. The single biggest piece of inspiration was probably attending the ‘History of AEGEE 101’ session, where, of course, the Dutchies laughed about the fact that it was a delegate from AEGEE-Venlo who brought about the tradition of singing for the CdA.
On Sunday morning, departure day, as we were standing outside the gym ready to leave, the idea came to life. We’ve had locals in Dutch cities like Den Bosch and Zwolle – as well as less-serious locals in Arnhem and Venlo – before. These cities don’t have big well-known research universities, but AEGEE still existed there. Why not try again? Thus, Deventer was picked: A quaint city that we’re all fond of, not too far from Enschede, so we can actually organise events there, with lots of former members of AEGEE-Enschede living there to help us out with events, and a student culture that AEGEE can hopefully leave a mark on.
By the time we were getting ready to check in for our flight at Bilbao Airport, we had already written most of our application and an email to request a support letter from the university, created the group chats for the board and for the members, and started working on our visual identity. A couple of months later and we’ve been approved as a contact, we have more than 100 followers on Instagram, we’ve attended a Nedertop – and now we’re in the Golden Times…
Amazing! What are you doing to increase the number of members in Deventer?
We are going to have a stand at the introduction week to meet new students and introduce them to AEGEE. It will happen on 28 August, should anyone want to join us, feel free to send us a DM on Instagram or email contact-deventer@aegee.eu. So that’s when we’ll find out how difficult it is… Right now the focus is on getting our activities prepared in time for the start of the academic year.
Does the university or other institutions in Deventer support you and like the idea of AEGEE?
The higher education institution in Deventer, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, was very happy to provide us with a support letter, so we are optimistic that the collaboration will be fruitful. As this University of Applied Sciences also has a location in Enschede, they have already worked with AEGEE-Enschede there and will certainly be a great partner in Deventer too.
What local activities are you planning or have you already made in your city?
We are going to kick the year off with a VrijMiBo, short for Friday afternoon drink as a first activity in September and follow that up with a game night at a pub two weeks later, where we will add a game about AEGEE for the new students to get to know about the association.
What will be the first international activity that you want to organise in your city with AEGEE?
Our first European event will be the Agora.
That’s very modest. What can you tell us about your city? Why should AEGEE members from all over Europe visit you and your city?
Deventer is a beautiful Hanseatic city on the river Ijssel, a perfect way to see a more tranquil side of Dutch living that isn’t always present in the usual Dutch student cities. One claim to fame is its cake, Deventer koek, which gives it one of its nicknames, koekstad – cake city. Records relating to the manufacture of cake in Deventer date back to the 15th century. It’s also home to an annual book market which claims to be Europe’s biggest. The city’s small size means that nature is never far away, even when you’re in the middle of the lovely historic centre.
Two unique cultural festivals are held in Deventer, one being the Deventer op Stelten outdoor theatre festival, held just last weekend, involving lots of performances on stilts. The other is the Dickens Festival, held every year just before Christmas, a huge celebration of the English author. Perhaps these two are a more realistic basis for an international event than the Agora, we’ll have to see.
There happens to be a Turkish Consulate in Deventer, so if you happen to be an AEGEEan from that country, you can lose your passport here on a night out and you won’t have to travel far to get a replacement. Finally, we’d like to remind Dutch readers that Deventer is where the famous ‘mand’ video was filmed.
When do you want to sign the Convention d’Adhesion?
Autumn Agora 2025. We already have a Statutes Working Group and hope to register the association very soon, after which we should be ready to get upgraded and sign the CdA. Registering the association will require some financial assistance, we are currently looking into whether the university can provide us with that, but we are quite optimistic. We look forward to signing and singing with the Agora!
