High Praesidium

Praeses
Rik

 Rik, the merriest Dutchman of the institute, will be taking the philosophy students under his wing. He is rather hard to miss with his big smile, Gouda-blonde hair and friendly height. He constantly worries about the well-being of his fellow students and is always prepared to help them. This makes him the perfect candidate to be praeses. The considerable experience he has gained in the praesidium this year will undoubtedly help him in this position. Through his work in the education department he is up to date with the recent developments in the university landscape. And as an editor for DeWijzer he has honed his writing skills to match those of a true politician.

Treasurers
Michiel S and Luca

Just because NFK is a nonprofit organization does not mean that there is no money involved. That’s why Michiel S. and Luca will use their economic genius to make sure our finances run smoothly. There is no reason to doubt that these two gentlemen are the perfect fit for this position. The stories about “Michiel and the faculty bar’s cash register” are infamous, and Luca is an expert at financing thanks to his work as the NFK partyorganizer this year. Together they will carefully guard the key to our treasure chest, day and night. No thief will even come close to this precious key. This duo is exceptionally responsible and will surely fulfill their important duty with great success.

Function coordinators
Anouchka, Luca, Dennis, Robin, Felien and Michiel S

Besides Rik as the upcoming praeses and Luca and Michiel S as treasurers, the high praesidium also consists of a couple of function praesides or function coordinators, who coordinate the
workings of their team and communicate with each other. Felien coordinates the new ‘social team’, since Dennis is the entire ‘sports team’, he will coordinate himself, Robin is responsible for the ‘PR-team’, Anouchka manages the ‘team culture’ and Luca the ‘team party’.

 

Functions

Culture
Dries, Thibault, Felien, Anouchka and Vaes

Wonderful Anouchka and her team will make sure that you get your fair share of culture in the coming year. We are not surprised that she chose this function because she is already working for NFK as the director of our play: “The Picture of Dorian Grey.” She also is an aspiring poet, we can only dream of hearing some of her beautiful verses at one of the enlightening eventsthat she will be organizing next year. Dries is the perfect fit to be in the culture team. Because of his irresistible looks, he is playing the leading role in the NFK play. He’s an expert of every cultural discipline.
Simon, aka Vaes, is always welcome anywhere in the institute. With the help of his curly haircut, dry humor and contagious laugh he will create an excellent environment in the Culture Team. Next we have Thibault: we only need to think of his famous beret to know that he is a man of culture who likes to eat cheese and drink fine wine. Last but not least there is Felien, the Calliope of the group. She can’t wait to make next year a culture feast for every single philosopher at the HIW. Anouchka speaking: “The purpose of our ‘team culture’ is to make philosophy students experience culture together. We can accomplish this goal in many very different ways! This year, we’ve noticed that movie nights have been popular, so we’ll certainly proceed this nice tradition next year. We’ll also keep an eye out for inspiring expositions and all those other cultural events that Leuven has to offer!”

Education
Joëlle, Michie S and Margot

Joëlle is enormously driven in everything she does. Next year she will be representing the students at the POC and the student council of the KUL. She will make sure that the quality of education at the HIW will increase by twofold. The same goes for Margot, after all those years of student council-work in high school she can’t wait to put her experience to good use. Michiel already has a year of experience so he will be assisting these two young ladies as a mentor to steer them in the right direction.

DeWijzer
Kasper, Margot and Vaes

These three partners in crime will provide you with your much needed philosophical news and creativity. They will network extensively to make sure that the DeWijzer reaches its fullest potential. Margot likes to write poetry in her free time and more than once this year she also wrote about famous people’s favorite poems for the Veto (Leuven’s independent student’s magazine, in Dutch unfortunately). Many years from now, people will reminisce about how – thanks to her – the next Van Ostaijen was first published in DeWijzer. Kasper already worked for our magazine this year and just can’t get enough of it. With his broad but critical view he will enthuse DeWijzer’s readers so that they get thirsty for more. Vaes completes this editorial team. Behind the counter of the faculty bar he will get inside information about the lives of our eccentric philosophers so always know what is going on, and report about it in DeWijzer. Kasper speaking: “NFK has had a magazine for a long time but that does not mean that we have never sailed turbulent waters. To put things into perspective: last year there have only been published two numbers. This year we’re on three and the fourth is in the making. I’m happy to see this revival because DeWijzer is just too good to let it decay. It forms a platform for all philosophy students where they can be creative: they can publish their writings, philosophize, draw, show photographs etc. In my view, DeWijzer is first of all a medium of the future and the past on which philosophy students can capture and share their ideas of the present. Secondly, I want to use DeWijzer to further connect all students by promoting the use of English language, so not only Dutch students can enjoy the magazine. Lastly, I see DeWijzer as a place where student are free to experiment without any formal consequences. Those who wish to break free from the boundaries of academic writing are welcome to unleash their creativity with us!”

Course Services
Alma and Michiel G

Michiel and Alma form an excellent duo together: Friendly, fond of laughing and gregarious. The ideal candidates for our CuDi! Next year, they will be helping you with all your handbooks,
compulsory readings, student notes and life-saving summaries. When you are there don’t forget to have nice chat, you definitely want these two on your good side if you’re looking for a nice discount.

Faculty Bar
Elise, Thibault, Abheer, Vaes and Felix

Vaes is a party animal. There is no doubt that he will be asking you to dance, and you can’t say no to those puppy eyes. Felix will enchant you with his tapping-skills. Discover a new beer (or a home-made lemonade) on each Tuesday and take your chance to see this hunk in person. Thibault and Elise are true musical experts. They know the perfect records that will fill our philosophical dancefloor. They also know how to create an intellectual atmosphere. Take a seat, discuss the theories of your favorite philosopher, or just make some small talk with your fellow students. Abheer, aka The Shotmaster, is a convivial young man who will party with you until the sun rises. Abheer speaking: “SHOTS?! too much alcohol makes you wanna pee, don’t do it on the streets. PEACE!”

Party
Abheer, Jade, Marie, Dennis and Luca

Long, brown hair and big brown eyes, Marie has the looks of an ultimate dancing queen. Just her laugh is already a party! Be sure to take enough rest this summer because next year will be a party year like no other. With Jade, every night is a party when you have moves like her. Luca is known as the Sultan of Swing, and Dennis will only play the best records, thanks to his experience at RadioScorpio. Finally, Abheer has some wild ideas that will spice up our parties and make them the best of all Leuven!

PR
Robin, Michiel G and Walt

Walt, Michiel and Robin will be proving their worth as PR-masterminds. Be wary of all the messages in your mailbox, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Expect nothing less than colorful posts and alluring banners. Be prepared to be fall for Robins charms and red lips. Be prepared to be persuaded by Michiel’s mighty, manly beard. Be prepared to be captivated by Walt’s irresistible charms.

Robin speaking: The purpose of ‘team PR’ is to make sure that all philosophy students are up to date when it comes to what is happening at NFK. When this is not the case, many students will not feel involved, and when you see it like that, PR is essential for the cohesiveness of a student organization like NFK. Today however, a difficulty emerges: in today’s world, social media play a significant role in promoting events and sharing information. But social media platforms are often very chaotic places, and because of this chaos it is often hard to be able to reach everyone, even though most of us are all active on these platforms. That’s why we will still make announcements during the breaks between classes, and why we will also hang up posters here in the institute.”

Webmaster
Tom

The Cybergod has descended from mount Olympus to assist us with our technological troubles. He will be taking care of our website with the help of his collection of lifehacks, memes and shortcuts. He will also provide us with tech advice wherever we need it. He’s a prodigy in the technological field, just like Bill Gates. Hopefully he will actually, unlike Bill, finish his studies?

Social
Walt, Abheer, Felien en Dennis

The five most convivial people of the whole institute. With their inviting eyes, warm smiles, friendly postures and engaging small talk, they’re looking to improve the social cohesion of the HIW. Together, they will make everyone feel at home between the blooming wisteria, old buildings and romantic trees. Undergrad, Grad or doctoral student, Belgian, Dutch or International, boy, girl or any gender in between: team social will take care of every single one of you.

Felien speaking: “The function ‘social’ has made a come-back, but in comparison to the past this name can be interpreted more broadly. Our team not only fulfils what the welcoming team did the last two years, we also put our focus on what ‘team international’ was originally meant for, and we try to assist the whole praesidium in ‘internationalization’. Doing this, we try to increase the cohesiveness between the students. At the request of the institute, team social will organize a Mental Health Week, and we will also take care of the welcoming weekend and activities in the lounge. It’s quite a job, but we’re looking forward to it!”

Sports
Dennis

This young, athletic Limburger will supervise our philosophical sports program. He is known as a man with real guts, but is he willing to prove it? His ambition for Dad-jokes and Basketball will help him lead our NFK sports team to victory in every discipline. The prizes will be ours! Besides these ambitious goals, Dennis also wants to keep all the philosophers of the institute healthy and provide them with some activities to actively relax.