DTU will produce better engineers if they talk to one another while studying here, says Anne Sloth Bidstrup, who is taking an MSc in Civil Engineering herself. However, sometimes the contact needs a helping hand. Which is where Anne comes into the picture. Vector, crazy cabin cook, party committee president, revue supervisor, bartender, purchasing officer, freshers’ yearbook editor ... Since starting her studies here in 2011, she has gone the extra mile to boost DTU’s social dimension, taking the lead in organizing all kinds of events: from freshers’ trips to spring cleaning Diagonalen in preparation for the revue.
DTU is often praise for its study environment—which is largely run by energetic volunteers who are happy to give 110 per cent. Like Anne. Who is driven by her own ambition. She is keen to be in the thick of the action, where decisions are made and where events take shape and form—with an unswerving commitment to maintaining high standards in all areas. But she is also driven by a broader aim: to generate camaraderie that strengthens both the individual student and the University as a whole.
“DTU is a meeting place for remarkable people from here, there and everywhere. Many of them may have been a little shy before they started here, and perhaps even a bit geeky,” says Anne. “But then you see them bloom at DTU. I think it’s because there’s someone here who can be bothered to make an effort to enhance the social dimension. There’s someone here who takes initiatives to bring people together so they can fulfil their potential.”
"DTU maintains an incredibly high academic level. And the social dimension makes it easier to cope with the academic demands."
Anne Sloth Bidstrup, MSc student, Civil Engineering
For Anne, it all began with the Construction Council—the student council for Civil Engineering—and a few monthly meetings that took up 4–5 hours of her time. Through the Construction Council, she was elected to the Joint Committee of the PF student association, and became involved in more monthly meetings. Then she became a vector (student mentor), and the meetings became weekly events. And the number of hours they took increased sharply. At the same time, she was a member of the party committee in Diagonalen, the Friday bar in the first quadrant. And at some point she became purchasing officer. Then she became a vector again before taking on the role of KABS (Coordinator of the Bachelor Study Start). At this point, it no longer makes sense to talk in terms of hours or meetings.
When she finished her stint as KABS, the revue project appeared.
“I knew I had to get involved,” she says. “Come on ... there was no way they were going to put on a revue without me.”
The revue took a year—and a lot of hard work—to prepare.
“But it was such as success ...” she says. “It was crazy to see so many people who didn’t know each other coming together in a unit and creating something really cool. Something that, to some extent, I’d facilitated.”
Anne is quick to emphasize it was well worth the effort. As, it seems, it usually is.
Elite level demands a social life
It’s not easy to study at DTU, and very few people make it on their own, without a social network. This is something Anne is keen to help set up. Which is why she keeps on keeping on.
“DTU maintains an incredibly high academic level. And the social dimension makes it easier to cope with the academic demands.”
That’s her own personal experience in any case:
“If I didn’t know anyone and ate lunch on my own every day, I’d have dropped out ages ago. The social element provides academic ballast, and I can’t overemphasize how important this is.”
After all, you have to want to go to a lecture. And sometimes the chance to be together with your friends outweighs the lure of the academic content, she explains.
Asks for help
Anne has also managed to start up a student council for the BEng study programmes Building and Civil Engineering and Global Business Engineering, where she held the post of unofficial president for a year.
“They’re up and running for themselves now,” she reports. “It’s been fun to build something up from scratch, and fantastic to see it succeed, because it’s one of the student councils on Ballerup Campus that really works.”
At some point or other during the intervening period, she became president of Diagonalen. And she heads up ‘Roskilde Festival powered by DTU students’ —although this is admittedly a paid position.
Even though she seldom does hard physical work, apart from that time she lugged booze around for Diagonalen, the long hours can still take their toll.
“It’s tough when I don’t have time for it ... like when I have to leave my group work because I have to put in a call to a supplier of something or other. When I don’t have time to take the time I need, and have to reprioritize something else ... that’s when I feel it’s a slog,” she says.
“But I’ve got better at asking for help, so it doesn’t happen so often now. I don’t let it get out of hand.”
Competences versus holiday
Last autumn, Anne took on the role of ‘crazy cabin cook’ for the group of vectors set to follow in her footsteps. That demanded a lot of preparation—again.
“I really don’t know how it feels to take an autumn holiday without having anything to do. I haven’t tried that since I started here. Or an Easter holiday ... I’m always on the ‘OPtur’ study trip around then.”
She doesn’t see it as an imposition, however, because what she gets out of it makes it all worthwhile. ‘Invaluable competences’ is how she terms it.
“For example, learning to speak in front of big groups. I really didn’t enjoy this to start with, but now it doesn’t bother me because I’ve done it so many times. When you’re on a trip with 150 freshers and you have to keep them informed at all times, it’s just something you have to get on with.”
She has also learned how to manage projects, keep everything together, prepare accounts and budgets, and take on the role of ‘boss’.
“These are all useful skills,” she says.
At the moment, Anne is working on a camping trip; then it will be time to make a start on the new freshers’ yearbook, and then on Friday night she will be tending bar in Diagonalen. Tomorrow—Saturday—she will be helping give the bar a thorough cleaning. She doesn’t mind, because the whole team will be getting together to hold a party afterwards. Which probably means they’ll have to clean up again on Sunday ..
“It’s a never-ending story,” she says with a smile.
Anne Sloth Bidstrup is 28 years old and lives in Kampsax Kollegiet hall of residence on Lyngby Campus.
She is studying Civil Engineering
2015: Started her MSc in Building Technology
2013: Employed by DTU as project coordinator on ‘Roskilde Festival powered by DTU Students’
2011: Started her BSc programme
2007: Graduated from Rødovre Gymnasium (High School) Was a member of the student council for three years.