About Lotte Weedage
Dear reader,
During a nice Sunday afternoon, I am finally writing my story for the Abacus website. This was an action point that I have postponed for a long time until now… In the story below, I will tell you about the question you all have: “Who is the chairman of the 49th board of W.S.G. Abacus and why is she the chairman of this beautiful association?”
It all started 20 years ago, in a small town far away from here. On July 16th, Lotte Weedage was born in the town called ‘t Harde. I was raised here and it’s also where I went to elementary school. Later on, I attended another school. From then on I had to cycle 5 kilometres back and forth every day. I don’t remember much of elementary school, except for the one time in my last year when I wanted to sharpen my pencil in the plant on my table. I am still often reminded of this event by my ex-classmates.
Then it was time for High School; I started at the Celeanum, a grammar school in Zwolle but later on switched to the Lambert Franckens College in Elburg. Good times! I quickly found out I was into the beta courses, so I did a lot of research in beta studies. In my 5th year I thought I had it figured out: I’m going to study Chemistry in Wageningen! Peremptorily I went to those Open Days, not really looking anywhere else, up until 2 weeks before May 1st in my last year, the deadline for choosing a study programme… While I still had a lot of interest in chemistry, one night I found out I wasn’t quite as much into those ‘soft’ beta courses. I wanted the real mathematics! Eventually I had to admit it, even though I didn’t want to walk in my mother’s footsteps at all (Math teacher)…
After I made the decision I quickly visited various universities and wanted to plan a “student for a day”, but the only option left was in Enschede. When I came to feel the atmosphere in Enschede, I knew it instantly: this is where I want to be!
And there I was, as a freshman who didn’t know anything, at the kick-in. Never had a beer in my life, never been in a committee, just got my own room and still very naive. I quickly found out how much fun W.S.G. Abacus is and I immediately became active with the association! First I started with the Freshman Committee, later I was in the Ab-Actie and ABCie. Besides my participation at W.S.G. Abacus I also became active at the Student Gymnastics Association Linea Recta, where I was the secretary in my first and second year.
Now that I look back, I had the ambition to join the board at W.S.G. Abacus in my first year already. At that time, I looked up at the board of that time and thought: “This is what I want too!”. Even back then I really wanted to commit a year to the association and to evolve myself in other ways than just by studying.
Now I’m here, 5th female chairman of W.S.G. Abacus, in the 49th board. I hope that with the five of us, Maaike, Wouter, Steven, Wilbert and I, we can make this a wonderful year!