I am Quinten van Dongen. Wait you don’t recognise me? Let me help you! I am Mr. Q aka Coach aka Honeybee aka Taipan Master aka… Okay, this might not be the best start to an article. Screw it, let’s just get into what my life looks like.

It all started in Zwolle, where I was born on the 14th of October 2002. Shoutout to my parents for creating me. I quickly realized that I was not able to talk and walk at that time, so I created a hobby that did not involve that. Here is where I found my passion in crying. I have had many hobbies in my life, but I think my parents hated this one the most. After a few years, I was getting fairly good at walking and talking, so I dropped my first hobby. I started with my new hobby which involved my newly acquired skills. Walking away from my parents at shopping centers. I even used to ‘accidentally’ take candy bars with me if I saw a nice one. My parents hoped at this point that my hobbies in the future would be less annoying for them to deal with, and they were! 

When I was four, I was sent to a primary school called ‘De Vlonder’. Here, I really enjoyed playing hide and seek, I even got better at it. This was fun until I realized that not seeing a person does not imply that this person cannot see you. Closing my eyes was not a valid tactic. Later in primary school, I had many sports-related hobbies such as soccer, judo, dodgeball, and some others. Here, I also realised that education is fairly important if you want to succeed in your life. So, I tried my best on the CITO test which gave me the advice to go VWO(this is a level of education for high school). From this point on I started to take life more and more seriously. So, let’s get serious…

In high school, I focused on education and social life while letting go of my sports hobbies. I started gaming a lot, like a lot a lot. I really enjoyed playing video games with my friends, but in hindsight, this was not the best for me. I became lazy, and this was visible. I gained a lot of weight, and I even got health issues from this. Then, the last year of high school started, and I was not sure if I was ready to start university. Changes were needed, so I started working on myself. I started to focus on my health and challenge myself in music. At this point, COVID hit and I could really focus on my goals, which I achieved. I could play music by ear after taking the time, but most importantly, I lost a lot of weight. In 6 to 7 months, I lost a bit more than 30 kilograms of weight by following a keto diet. To this day, this is still my proudest achievement.

With my newly gained confidence, I started university and shaped my own life. I realised for me to progress, I need to set goals. So in my first year, I focused on passing my studies, since I struggled with the difficulty. In my second year, I focused on improving my social life. In my third year, I focused more on my health by hitting the gym. And, now I am in my fourth year! This year, I want to finish my studies, finish my board year, and keep hitting the gym while also having a great social life. 

So, you are probably wondering what the reason is that a goal-oriented person like me does a board year. I want to be prepared for what life has to offer me after I am done studying. During a board year, you learn how to run an association with your friends. This helps you with starting up your projects and knowing how to set a line between personal life and work. Next to this, you will meet a lot of amazing people and you will be able to attend some amazing activities! Of course, there are also other things a board year has to offer! So, come and ask me about it! I hope to speak to you!