Euram Candidate Interview: Sofia Novak

Interview by Sophie Grigoriu

Photo: Clémentine Mariani

Please introduce yourself

Nice to meet you guys, my name is Sofia Novak and as you have figured out by now I’m running for student representative. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia but I grew up in Thailand and spent the last three years in a boarding school in Massachusetts. My parents are from Europe, so I guess it is a very international background.

What do you think the role of a Student Representative at Sciences Po Reims is or should be?

The most important role should be to be someone that students feel comfortable to talk to, but also someone that can communicate with the administration, with the ideas and suggestions effectively, and make sure changes happen.

Why are you running to be a student representative?

I love this campus, and everyone I’ve met so far. I just want to make sure that everyone’s voices are heard, and everyone has as great of an experience as I’ve had so far.

What makes you qualified for this position?

Beyond past experiences and leadership positions back in my old school and old community I’ve had so far, I have developed strong relationships with both the student body and the administration, and I think that I’ll be able to leverage such relations and my genuine care and passion for this community to hopefully continue representing everyone.

As a Student Representative, what would be your mission or your main goals this year?

My main mission and goal this year is to communicate what you want, and make sure I listen to you guys and find a way to make your hopes and wishes a reality. Beyond that, as you will see in my official campaign, I have three essential pillars of ideas I’ve come up by myself. These three points are logistics, student outreach and campus community. I’m open to suggestions, but if not, these are gonna be my main goals.

What is the one thing that as a student representative, you’d like to change or reform?

I feel like the main thing I’ve heard complaints about is the fact that administration here has a very bad reputation. I think it’s unfair and I would like to improve relations between the student body and the representatives because I believe that both the students and administration are working very hard to make sure that everyone here has the best experience and is provided the best educational experience and I want to make sure that both parts are recognized for their hard work and to avoid any bumps of communication that prevent this from being recognized.

Finally, if you could visit any moment in time, past or present, where would you go and why?

Honestly, based on today’s history lecture, I think it would be very interesting to visit one of the salons in Paris where Chopin plays his pieces, and perhaps just see the atmosphere, especially the one surrounding political and philosophic debate, the opinions and how they’ve changed. It’s a very cool atmosphere and I’d love to be part of that, and maybe recreate something similar here!