Speed dating with the leaders of the future
Last week, Tilburg University’s top 10% started with the Outreaching Honors Program. During the kick-off, the leaders of the future got the chance to get to know each other through various activities, including speed dating.
The Outreaching Honor Program is an excellence program for only the best and brightest students at Tilburg University. The selection process is very competitive. Participants must have received their “propedeuse”, or first-year diploma, within one year. Additionally, their grades have to be an average of 7 or higher. Yearly, only 50 students are chosen to participate in the program, which runs on top of their bachelors.
Last Friday, the participants met each other for the first time and received information about the program. It was a weekend-long introduction, with the first activity being speed dating. Outreaching program alumnus Geert Lamerichs was overseeing the event. According to him, it should help them form a real community. “You get a really mixed group of international and national students who we will prepare to become future leaders within companies or organizations.”
“It’s truly a program where cool things are created,” says Lamerichs. “It’s meant to create a bridge between the university’s academic side and society, and to apply all the knowledge you have. Everybody that participates has to work in innovative and efficient ways.”
Koen Peters is an alumnus who finished the program 2 years ago. Now he’s working for the United Nations World Food Program, where he got the opportunity to go to Syria. There he was able to help 4 million people in hunger. He speaks very highly about the Outreaching Program. “Without Outreaching, I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off, I wouldn’t even have dared to tackle the problem. I’ve been challenged on every level to solve problems creatively.”
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