It has been some time since the celebration of the 75th anniversary of IAESTE, the exchange of internships, and strengthening of our network – that all took place in the capital of Poland, Warsaw! Over 350 participants from more than 60 countries joined the 76th Annual Conference, which was kickstarted on 20. 1. and lasted for 5 amazing but very busy days.
The Opening Plenary featured speeches of the IAESTE President, Thomas Faltner, the Honorary President of the conference, Dr. Dorota Rylska, the National Secretary of IAESTE Poland, Karolina Sergiel, and a keynote speech of the UNESCO NGO Liaison Committee, Nick Newland.
The celebration of the 75th anniversary was held in the Palace of Culture and Science, with the theme “Back to the future – what should we learn for the future?” and guests not only reflected on the past achievements but also made wishes for the next 75 years. Thomas Faltner and Olga Legacka also presented the James Newby Medal to individuals, who had an outstanding contribution to the IAESTE mission and represent the values of commitment, diversity, friendship, growth, and trust. Our big congratulations to Edith Bretin – IAESTE France, Jan Zajicek – IAESTE Czech Republic & Valentina Carrasco Rosales – IAESTE A.s.b.l.!
Another important congratulations in order are going to Jovana Kocevska, a former member of the Central European Region, for being elected to IAESTE Global Board!
Without work, there will be no fun, so after days of exchanging, discussing, training, and knowledge-sharing there was always some fun waiting for the participants. City tours in beautiful Warsaw or very much awaited International evening. Overall, the 76th Annual Conference was a very productive, successful, and also very fun event, where we, as a CER team, could meet with the representatives in person once again (even though not in complete numbers).
Great thanks to all delegates, guests, the organizing team of IAESTE Poland, and all who made this conference a success.
See you all again very, very soon at the 46th CEC Slovakia!
