News
Student Associations during the pandemic: life goes on with solidarity and creativity
Published on 07 April 2020 by NEOMA
- Student life
ON March 16, life on the NEOMA campuses was brought to a halt. Even if the announcement of the confinement came as a real blow to the student societies, their members immediately showed great solidarity, with assistance becoming the watchword. Far from being discouraged, the students used their resourcefulness, know-how, creativity and ingenuity to ensure their activities continue...We take a look at some of these below.
NEOMA boasts a wide range of student societies. Arts, culture, multimedia, business, entrepreneurship, social responsibility and solidarity causes, sport, adventure... and more than 1200 students are involved in the projects throughout the year and which play such an important role in life at the School.
Shared goals: elections and new committees handovers
The election of a new committee is a crucial step in ensuring a student society's activities continue. The lists and nominations are really important, but the Covid-19 crisis and the confinement have really upset the schedules.


The new President of NEOMA Reims Conseil, Benjamin Léger, adds : “The handover was assured remotely two weeks ago. Things are sorting themselves out because we're in constant contact and we communicate effectively using the social networks: Messenger, Snapchat, Zoom, Skype. We make sure that the information flows smoothly between all the Junior Entreprise members and we are doing everything we can to create a pleasant, family working environment.”
Célia Bernardo, President of Envie D'Sup (Rouen), agrees that such a mindset is essential: “We send each other many messages to make sure everyone's okay. A sense of solidarity and family are essential values at NEOMA and something we really feel at the moment.”
Discovering a passion for the legal aspects
Audits, General Assemblies, last minute cancellations, the NEOMA Student Association members are scrambling to get their heads round the legalities of the their status and contracts. A real challenge during a period of confinement. Johan Dallemans, President of Team Challenge Rouen, explains: "Following the announcement of the cancellation of Challenge Écricome, we held an emergency meeting to assess the expenses already incurred. We went through the contracts and then looked at the general terms of sale and found ourselves really enjoying the legal conditions applied to a cancellation in particular," he jokes. "I'm thinking, for example, of the buses that had been booked to take the students to Marseille (Ecricome Challenge 2020 host city). We're looking at how we can recover our costs and refund the students who registered for the challenge."
"The audit will be done by videoconference on Skype and we'll present the documents to the auditors in this way." concludes Mylène, outgoing President.
Finding alternative ways to continue with the missions
The pandemic has turned the Associations' management routines on their head, giving rise to innovative and hopeful alternatives!David Athéa, Secretary General of Altéo Conseil Rouen, highlights one inspiring example.
"Our activity can be carried out almost 100% digitally and we can work on our missions by working from home. We are continuing to sign up for studies with clients and the 6 studies started before the confinement remain ongoing. Only the on-site phases have been postponed. However, we have found ourselves in a somewhat unusual situation. Due to the confinement, the treasurer, who is originally from New Caledonia, has returned home and the President has gone to Peru on exchange. So, currently, when we have meetings, we are juggling between 3 different time zones. This is totally new because it's not even the same day for all of us! This means we need to agree on the date of the minutes!"
Another inventive idea is shared by Célia Bernardo and the members of Envie D'Sup de Rouen:
"As part of the support we provide for High School students, we had planned to hold a public speaking contest. The students had already attended a number of preparation workshops and done a lot of speaking and body language exercises. They had all practiced and were ready to speak in front of an audience that included the tutors and their fellow students plus a jury of 4 members. Due to the confinement, holding the contest in its original format was simply not possible. The format was therefore redesigned into a digital version and organised remotely. We challenged the participants to film their performance and send it to us. The jury members also accepted the challenge and they will assess the different speeches according to a specific score chart before passing on their feedback and advice for improvement to the students. The winners selected by the jury will receive a prize".

Such initiatives demonstrate, more than ever, the commitment the students at NEOMA have for their Associations and the important role they play in their curriculum. The ideal opportunity to give a huge round of applause to all the NEOMA students involved in the pursuit of their Association's activities. Bravo for their creativity and perseverance that reflect the true NEOMA spirit: #StayAtHome_StayPassionate
For more information about the NEOMA student associations : click here