For the 2017/2018 term, the members appointed Louis Voisin as the head of the federation. The first-year Master of Law student and his team succeed Nicolas Rodi.
Why did you run for the presidency of the federation?
There are many reasons why I did it. I took over the presidency of FACE 06 because it helped me reintegrate socially at a certain period in my life. It offered me many things and allowed me to integrate into society and the professional world. So, I figured I could also help others.
Next school year, how will you balance your studies and your role as president?
I continue my studies in Master 1 in private law and criminal science. Before joining FACE 06, I started with the BDE (Student Union), which is an affiliate association of the federation. When I was only studying, I repeated my years. And when I started getting involved in the association, my grades and work improved. Therefore, I spend as much time on the association and my courses. Through the associative life, I learned to organize my work, to set up projects, and to channel the energy I had in me. Last year, I was vice-president of FACE 06. So, I already had a lot to do, and it went very well. This year will be a challenge, and I have no doubt I will succeed!
Aside from your studies, what are your projects/objectives for your term?
The federation, in its internal aspect, is to continue to develop it. For this, we need to strengthen the ties solidly with the associations that comprise us. And also, help them strengthen ties with students on their campuses. This is the best way to grow the federation, through the sphere of student associations and with students who do not know this associative world. We bring them to discover it and participate without necessarily being active members or committed volunteers. Simply by helping their projects come to fruition with our help.
We have several major projects that constitute the federation’s influence. Like the JAE, the campus tour, keeping the Agora-é alive, and reviving the Apparté plan. After setting many objectives, we must try to achieve them. From an event perspective, we want to organize an event called “University got talent.” It will be like “France has incredible talent.” The goal is to identify local talents and bring them, through a digital campaign, to make themselves known. Later, have an evening to present themselves before a jury. If possible, we will invite well-known figures to add prestige to the event. We also want to organize a culture week on a different campus each day. We also have a university radio station in Nice in development. At the end of the year, we want to organize a festival with local music artists. Both in acoustic and DJ sets.
Also internally, we want to set up a project incubator. That is to say, establish a unit composed of members of the federation’s board team and members of the association network. The goal is to invite students to share a project with us or to help them set up a project. And, of course, bring it to fruition. We would also like to set up workshops related to specific fields on campus, such as public speaking workshops for the law faculty. We want to implement a project to combat social isolation through the language barrier. The region is greatly affected due to migration, but also because of Erasmus. The team and I are looking at the work of CNRS researchers who studied the mechanisms of language construction and deconstruction. On our side, we will try to set up class-workshops with speech therapy professors and qualified students.
It’s a big program you are presenting, but what is this application project?
We have created two new branches within FACE 06: the IT branch and the social innovation branch. For the IT branch, we are starting the development of an application for the Nice university radio. Then, we will try to develop a more comprehensive application for FACE 06. It is not necessarily an overloaded toolbox that would be difficult to use. The goal is to analyze the student’s needs and create an application that can respond to them. As for social innovation, the aim is to address and resolve existing issues innovatively.
For the last question, do you have one or more words to define yourself?
Ambitious, but I don’t really like this word. We have plenty of projects, but we must invest in associations, not just for the term. We want to be the source of change. The term remains somewhat pejorative due to the grandeur delusion. But the best term to remember would be “fighting spirit.” That’s what defines us; we are volunteers who work tirelessly all week, but we love it. It’s the spirit of initiative, the fighting spirit, and that’s what motivates us every morning.
