International Jesuit Association Of Chemistry And Chemical Engineering Universities And Schools

Student ISJACHEM Associates Report

• Two years ago the idea of supporting a simultaneous meeting of students that represented each of our institutions was well received among us.
• This project appeared as a possibility of moving with determination and success toward our goals, since it actively encouraged the sense of community and collaboration at its ultimate and most dynamic level: our students.
• The members of this simultaneous meeting were to be the presidents of each University's Students Association of Chemistry. They would follow a working program based upon our own ISJACHEM Agreement, and would consequently start building several relations that would carry our mission into unexplored fields.
• But initial enthusiasm faded away with time or it just couldn't reach our students as today report demonstrates:
• Back in our fourth congress held in Mexico only half of the attendees ended up sharing information about their Student's Association with Pablo, the representative student of the Iberoamericana who was leading the organization of the meeting back then.
• He got in contact with twelve presidents, but only seven of them answered back, some didn't even know what ISJACHEM was and only four, showed interest in reading and making comments about the working plan that was going to be presented at Recife.
• In Brazil, during the fifth congress, the working plan was presented, and again it was supported at least in appearance by most of the attendees. Pablo went back to Mexico ready to transfer the project to the next student's association, since he was about to finish his period. The following representative, encouraged by the Iberoamericana, accepted the project after considering the opportunities it offered. The message was sent to fifteen Universities and once again the answer was very limited: only four students were interested this year.
• It is then clear that we still have serious obstacles in front of us and that it's necessary to agree how are we going to manage them, if we are still interested in accomplishing such project.
• After this two periods of experience it's also clear that the distance between the students is quite big, all of their personal or curricular activities might minimize their interest over one e-mail from an association they might even not know. Therefore it's our direct involvement with the students what's been missing. Who but ourselves could make a better promotion of ISJACHEM?
• This year's proposal for reanimating the project will demand further collaboration between each one of us and the students' association of our University. We will be more committed to share the light of six years of efforts and experiences; persevering for ISJACHEM, to become an important issue also in the students' agenda.
• The idea is that the students' president of the host university, designs a small congress to meet with all of the other students representatives, who will be by then prepared thanks to our cooperation and their teamwork.
• We could even suggest to the students of the host university to receive the foreign students in their own home, this would not only reduce the travelling expenses but would also create ties that go beyond the usual formal standards, encouraging a deep sense of familiarity.
• It is also a new consideration that the students meeting takes place at the same University than our congress and not simultaneously but one week before, that way, the students' president of the host university can share with us the results of their encounter and may submit certain issues for discussion.
• The possibility of organizing the first ISJACHEM Students Meeting for next year, at Belgium, should now be taken into consideration; if not, the project will completely loose its strength or we will be postponing one of our most significant objectives: to collaborate more deeply with our students by encouraging their representatives into this international forum.
• No one could ever name all that happens when we serve each other. If we share such beliefs with the example to our future generations and we insistently work to feed our own creativity and willingness, our source of inspiration for getting together each year will become greater and the sense of familiarity stronger.