In a festive closing ceremony hosted by lecturer and Project Leader Sarita Koendjbiharie, a panel of staff members honoured both students and research coaches. Of course, also the students’ voice was heard, with the panel members presenting some of the students’ favourite memories and inspiring mantras. Besides Sarita Koendjbiharie, the panel consisted of María Gabriela Palacio Ludeña, lecturer and PRINS Project Leader, Giles Scott-Smith, International Studies Programme Chair and Jaap Kamphuis, International Studies Programme Manager.

A time of upheaval

Scott-Smith reminded the students and lecturers who attended the online ceremony, how they last met in person in February of this year “in a packed Wijnhaven auditorium”. In the intervening five months, many of the students travelled home to their own countries, “where they faced stressful situations and demands, including, for some of them, health issues.” At the same time, despite these obstacles, they continued with remote collaborative work and research in the PRINS course, for which he has great respect. It was a time of upheaval for them, as it was for the PRINS coaches, who were “trying to keep everything on track, to process everything that was being thrown at them and to coordinate PRINS as a whole.” He wittily used the metaphor of a rollercoaster to describe the challenges faced by all on this course, especially since it included “an unexpected Corona curve” half-way through. But once everybody had reached the end of the track, they could say “with a sense of euphoria: We did it!”

Learning experience and life experience

María Gabriela Palacio Ludeña, lecturer and PRINS project leader, also spoke about the challenges the Covid-19 pandemic brought along: “No one had prepared us for teaching during a pandemic.” In her speech, she especially honoured the PRINS research coaches. These coaches are International Studies lecturers who supervise and guide several student teams in their analysis of societal issues presented by organisational partners and provide them with novel and critical insights to assist their future decision-making. “We spent many hours discussing how to provide students with a sense of structure and content, while doing this in a compassionate way, in order to ensure that this would be not only a learning experience but also a life experience.”

Challenging and safe environment

Lecturer Palacio Ludeña and coordinator Georgiana Bălău have asked students which words they would use to describe their team’s coach. Characteristics that frequently came up were not only: “professional” or “critical”, but also “kind” and “supportive”. This goes to show that the research coaches succeeded in creating a challenging as well as a safe environment in which the students were able to thrive and to collectively develop their research reports and final pitches.

Celebrating success

The official part of the ceremony was closed with a toast expressed in a variety of the students’ languages, from “Santé” to “Cheers” and from “Salud” to “Proost”. Koendjbiharie, Scott-Smith, Palacio Ludeña and Kamphuis raised their glass to celebrate the students’ present and future success and no doubt the new International Studies alumni did the same. During the informal part of the ceremony, they were given the floor. In the digital classroom, the students got a chance to congratulate each other and to share favourite moments and highlights. For all of them, this year’s PRINS edition was a memorable, and in many ways, unique experience.

Do you want to read more about the closing ceremony? See Sarita's LinkedIn post here.