Interview in EA
Emma and Dunvel designed a minor about sustainability. They told with ea. magazine what drives them to contribute to a better world besides their busy studies.
TEXT & PHOTO’S: Sanne van der Most ©
You two designed a minor in sustainability for the Economy Faculty Society Rotterdam (EFR). What was your driving force?
Dunvel: "The goal of the minor is to create awareness on the importance of economical pluralism. We want to do this by discussing social and environmental borders - and by showing the different ways you can tackle today's big issues. Emma and I have both been on the board of the EFR. She was the one who set up the minor, and I took over the year following."
"To really go for something, together - it gives you a rush."
Why sustainability? Emma: "I've always been concerned with the environment, in childhood too. I even wrote a letter to primeminister Balkenende when I was 7, asking if he could maybe solve climate change. Which is funny. And then when I saw that Erasmus had the 'Grand Challenges' Honours programme, about sustainability and leadership, I got inspired again. We can definitely solve this if w all do our very best. That's when I started seeing what we've been missing at the university when it comes to sustainability and education. I'm also a United Nation's youth-representative for sustainable development, and Dunvel used to be on the Enactus-EUR board, an organisation for social entrepreneurship."
You have a lot of extracurricular activities. What motivates you?
Dunvel:"I want to do more than just study. I want to try to contribute now, not only later. Be part of something. That's my motivation. I'm learning so much from it. Of course it's all great on your CV, but if I didn't have that intrinsic motivation, I wouldn't have been able to do this."
Emma: "Same for me. To really go for something, together - it gives you a rush. Yes, it looks good on my CV. But it requires so much, especially now that I'm a UN youth-representative. It wouldn't be very clever to have been doing all of this only to bump up my CV."
How's the minor going?
Dunvel: "The first edition was a huge success - a lot of positive feedback from the students. We changed the name to 'New Economic Thinking & Social Entrepreneurship'. The second edition is already sold out: we have forty students on board. So people are noticing!"
