It is time for the January Get to Know (Me)mbers, and this time, we interviewed Chloe Edwards! As a second-year student, Chloe has already been in two Committees at EOS. With the Career Week coming up in February, we were excited to interview the chair of the committee that organizes it!
Welcome Chloe! Thank you for doing this interview. Can you introduce yourself?
“My name is Chloe Edwards, I’m 20 years old and I’m a second year student, studying Political Science Global Politics. I’m from Iowa in the United States and I moved to Amsterdam a year and half ago.”
With all of the different countries that she could’ve chosen, we were wondering why she chose the Netherlands to stay.
“I knew that I wanted to move to Europe, but it was a very scary move for me because I lived in Iowa my entire life and I wanted to make sure that the country I moved to wouldn’t be too difficult to adapt to. I looked up which countries commonly spoke English as a second language, that was very important to me. I also looked up countries that had good secondary education, or higher education. Those were the two most important factors for me. Also, the fact that Amsterdam is a very international city helps.”
So the biking and the liberalness didn’t have anything to do with it?
“Chloe: Those were some added bonuses. They were something I considered, but I was happy with moving to Europe no matter what, because I didn’t have any public transportation in Iowa whatsoever. I had to drive everywhere.”
What made you choose VU?
“The VU had really good marketing. Their website was clear to me. The office got back to me a lot faster also. I had tried applying to Amsterdam University College to do a Liberal Arts degree, but they were terrible at communicating. The information that VU provided about the program was also really exciting. I had looked at all the courses over the three years and all the classes seemed interesting to me.
A good introduction so far. So you said that you joined the Network Committee and are the chair. Do you want to tell the readers why and what your interest in this committee is?
“Last year, I was selected to be chair of the Congress Committee and that was a great first step into EOS, because that was only one event in the year. I was adapting to life here and didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the extra-curriculars too much, but still wanted to be involved so I could have a community outside of my studies. And when second year came around, I started thinking about post-grad life a lot more and how I wanted to orient myself towards the private sector. So I figured that getting involved with the Network Committee would be a great way for me to help shape events for students that could be accessible to both international and Dutch students alike. And also as a way to get my own foot in the door and get some great contact with businesses here in Amsterdam.”
Chloe proves to be ambitious, so we were curious about her goals.
“I wanted to begin shaping myself professionally and get a look into what it would be like to work for a big multinational organization. And so, working on the Career Week and creating events like the NGO Day and also doing various Inhouse Days is also really helpful for me to start thinking ‘what do I want to do when I graduate, who do I want to work for, the public sector or non-profit?’. So just having a lot of exposure to different career paths.”
Would you say you have gained experience since joining the committee?
“Yeah, the nice thing about the committee is that I feel like I’m constantly learning. The events are designed for EOS members to get insight as well, but I’m learning right alongside them. For instance, we had NGO Day, our first event, and we had invited 180 Degrees Consulting. Prior to the event, I had no insight into what consulting looks like and I came out of the event really interested in consultancy and wanting to perhaps work a cycle with them, also because they are also abroad. When I want to study abroad next year, I can still work for 180 Degrees and gain some experience and add that to my CV before I graduate.”
We’re happy to hear that committee work has been such a success for Chloe so far. But before committee work, she became a member.
“In terms of why I joined EOS, I studied actually for a year in the States before moving to the Netherlands, I studied Political Science and International Relations at the University of Iowa, and during that year, there was nothing to do other than staying in my dorm room and attending Zoom meetings. Even though it was during the pandemic, I wanted to stay involved. So, I took on a ton of extra-curriculars. I was a member of Ignite, which helped promote and motivate women to join the political space. And I was a voting ambassador for Hawk the Vote, which helped mobilizing young voters in the US. I was an outreach and engagement coordinator for our UN association. I was taking part in all these clubs and was very involved to get through that year and to find a community, because it helped me feel grounded to the university and part of something, so I gained a lot of leadership skills during that year. So when I came to VU, I knew that getting involved with a student faculty association was a great way to meet new people and have a sense of community right off the bat. I didn’t have any family or friends here, and I didn’t know anyone who had moved outside of the US, so it was horrifying. So joining EOS was a great way to be welcomed and automatically gain friends, but also regarding the committee work, people rely on you, so you also gain a sense of responsibility. I just attended as many EOS events as possible and met so many amazing people. EOS is a great way for me to feel at home in Amsterdam and at the University.”
Robel: Lets close off with the question, what have you achieved and what do you hope to achieve?
“I think my greatest accomplishment so far was moving to the Netherlands and making it work. I thought so many times to move back because it was hard, but it was really the friends and the community that I had here that helped me through it. Being in a committee was a crucial part of that. I’m glad that EOS is moving in an international direction. Having Francesca besides me in the committee is great, because she is also an international and it is great because that means as a committee that we are making sure that everyone in EOS has these opportunities.”
“Last year for instance a lot of events were Dutch-only, but they were really cool and I wanted to join them. Me being the chair in this committee together with Francesca and being involved with these events, it has become a high priority to make sure that everyone can network with these businesses that we invite and that by the time that they graduate, that they feel like they have gained the resources by attending events organized by us.”
That sounds really good. Thank you for this interview, Chloe!
We are looking forward to the Career Week that Chloe organised together with the Network Committee. It takes place in the week of the 20th of February! We’re looking forward to it. See you there!
Do you feel like being the next EOS superstar and can’t wait to be interviewed?
Send an email to: publicrelations@eosvu.nl and we will get back to you!
Featured member: Chloe Edwards, Chair of the Network Committee, 2022 – 2023
Interview done by: Robel Yohanis, General Member Media Committee
