An Interview with Candidate Board 10.0!

As you have probably heard by now, we have a new candidate board. But wait, who are these people!? Time to get to know our candidate board 10.0 a bit better!

Can each of you introduce yourself?
Imke: I’m Imke Verschuren and I’m 19 years old. I grew up in the bustling metropole of Bennekom, Gelderland and moved to Enschede about 1,5 year ago. During the past two years I became more and more active within Proto and now I’m here: the candidate chair of this great association!
Jesse: I'm Jesse Visser, 20 years old. I grew up in a tiny town in Frisia called Eastermar. It consists of just about 1500 people. You might imagine moving to a city like Enschede was quite a change for me. I have been an active member at Proto since the first moment I set foot in the Protopolis.
Jonathan: Hey there! My name is Jonathan “Jonewthan” Matarazzi and I’m currently 20 years old. I did not grow up, but spent most of my youth in Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel. I was one of the 2 people from my class who went to study in Enschede, so I went to Proto in my first year to look for some friends. Since then I have been quite active at proto, especially in the Have You Tried Turning It Off And On Again Committee and I’m looking forward to (hopefully) being the treasurer of Proto next year.
Sebastiaan: My name is Sebastiaan van Loon, 22 years old. I grew up in Bergen op Zoom and lived in Doetinchem for a bit. Before Create I studied AI in Nijmegen for a bit but I decided that screwing around with LEDs was far more interesting than a bunch of math.

So you are our 10th CB, how did you feel when you got the news?
Imke: I was quite nervous when I heard the news because I missed the first call, but I was obviously really excited to start this CB journey :)
Jesse: It was a wonder I picked up the first call, because I still had my phone on mute. Oops! But I am definitely excited to start this awesome journey!
Jonathan: My memory is unfortunately not one of my strong suits, so I do not actually remember getting the call with the amazing news. I do however remember the happiness flowing through me after I got the news.
Sebastiaan: Tired mainly, I was out running when I was called. But after that I was really excited of course.

How did you experience being a candidate board so far?
Imke: So far it’s been a lot of fun and I’ve already learned a lot, but due to the whole corona thing it has felt a little surreal so I just wear my candidate board tie a lot.
Jesse: It has already been a lot of fun, but also weird with the whole ongoing pandemic and such. Nevertheless I feel like we have already been quite productive and everyone is very enthusiastic!
Jonathan: It has been stressful at times, but that absolutely doesn’t mean it hasn’t been fun. We manage to squeeze in some jokes between the serious conversations to make every enjoyable. Although we can’t meet in person, I still enjoy all the time I get to spend with my other candies and I’m looking forward to the (hopefully) coming educational and fun year with them!
Sebastiaan: Confusing, especially with the staying indoors and all. But it’s still a really fun and interesting process.

Do you already have some plans for next year?
We want to keep Proto great and enjoyable for everyone, active or not. Since the coming year will be a lustrum year we hope to make it unforgettable through all kinds of events as well as coming up with fun limited edition Proto merchandise. One plan we had, we actually carried out already... We got a Proto bus! Our amazing candidate treasurer outdid himself on this one, check it out:

Do you have a fun anecdote for us?
This candidate board is already breaking with old traditions… As is the custom in study association Proto the (candidate) officer of internal affairs is bad with technology, but in our case the candidate chairwoman seems to have inherited this unlucky gene. She even exposed herself to some members prematurely on snapchat, shame!

Thanks to Imke, Jesse, Jonathan and Sebastiaan for the fun interview!