Campus Connect: I’m Martine Driessen, part of Campus Connect. And Campus Connect, as the name already suggests, is based on campus and we try to create as many connections as possible. How do we do that? Mainly by organizing activities and events at Broeze. I’ll explain more about that in a moment.

These events are generally organized by fourth-year Leisure & Event Management students. For their final-year internship, they have to organize events from A to Z. We give them a lot of freedom. We do guide them by saying: "look at the calendar, what important holidays or themed weeks are coming up? Think about King’s Day, Halloween, Mental Health Week, Valentine’s Day, and so on". Then they create events around those themes.

For example, we recently had a Pre-King’s Day event the week before King’s Day, to already get people into the spirit, because we’re closed on the actual holiday. Ideally, we also like international students to organize these events so they can really immerse themselves in Dutch culture.

Another thing we find very important is that every event includes two concepts: a “sense of place” and a “sense of season.” Sense of place means that every event should reflect a piece of Friesland — not just Frisian flags everywhere, but aspects of the culture, nature, or local food. Sense of season means using the current season properly. We don’t want an ice-skating rink in summer or an Ibiza party in the garden during winter. Students need to take these ideas into account while organizing events.

We also find it important to create as many connections as possible. Can we involve other study programs? Other stakeholders? We’re located on a large campus with many partners: the climbing wall, the petting zoo, Student Stay housing with around 800 international students, Leeuwarden Student City, Student Sport, ICON gym upstairs, and more. We try to connect all these groups and give them a platform.

That’s essentially what we do here through Broeze. Broeze itself is somewhat separate. It’s a café and creative space with the slogan “Home Away From Home.” Officially, it’s not my job to work behind the bar, but we operate as one team. So when it gets busy, I might suddenly be helping in the kitchen, pouring beers, or serving customers.

Bruze is mainly run by Hotel Management School students who work shifts behind the bar. Our goal is to create a living room atmosphere. If you look around, there are sofas and cozy seating areas everywhere. People can eat, work, or meet others here. You don’t even have to buy anything — you can bring your own lunch. We want this space to be accessible to everyone.

When Campus Connect organizes things, we do it in and around Broeze to help put Broeze on the map. If you ask a hundred students on campus whether they know Broeze or Campus Connect, too many still say no. So everything we organize also serves to make Broeze more visible.

This should simply be a comfortable place where students can work, relax, lie in the hammock, or even stand on their heads all day if they want to. It’s on campus, but still separate from the school buildings.

Sometimes students get stuck in some way, and more and more colleagues know they can find me here. For example, a lecturer from IT came to me and said he often sees me working with students here. That started a conversation. He explained that two students would soon be working full-time on improving connections between international students and the professional field, but they didn’t really have a workspace. So I told him they were welcome to work here in the café. And now they often do.

That’s exactly what we want to be here for: connection, helping each other, and making a difference for students.

Interviewer: Do you mainly focus on international students?

Campus Connect: Not intentionally, no. But internationals naturally become a big part of our audience because around 800 of them live nearby and pass by here every day. Dutch students often still live at home if they’re from the north of the Netherlands, so they’re less likely to stay on campus after classes. International students are generally more open to making new connections because they’re often here alone in a new country.

Interviewer: They’re all in a new, unfamiliar country and trying to fit in.

Campus Connect: Exactly, so the connecting aspect happens naturally. And because they walk past here all the time, they know about us. If you ask Dutch students whether they know Broeze, you’ll notice fewer do compared to international students.

It is improving though. A lot of our activities are organized by female interns because we simply have fewer male interns. That naturally leads to more creative or “feminine” events like poetry slams or Valentine’s activities, which technical-study male students often don’t attend. We try to break that pattern by organizing things like bootcamps too, but it’s difficult.

Interviewer: Are you currently trying to make yourselves more visible?

Campus Connect: Constantly. We also collaborate with many study programs through student assignments. For example, second-year Leisure & Events students are involved in our Summerize Festival on June 4th, which is now being organized for the third year in a row.

We also work with Marketing Management students. They needed a product to promote, and since the Hotel School no longer had time to collaborate, they approached us. Broeze gives us a bit more freedom to think outside the box. So now around 40 to 60 marketing students will help promote Summerize and, in turn, Broeze itself. It’s a win-win situation.

Interviewer: Are there irregular working hours?

Campus Connect: Absolutely. We also organize evening and weekend events. Normally Broeze is open from 8:30 AM until 6 PM, though I’m usually here from 8 AM already. Students organizing events are generally here from 8:30 until around 5 PM. But if we have evening events like Summerize, which lasts until 10 PM, we all stay.

Interviewer: And weekends too?

Campus Connect: Sometimes, yes. Ideally we’d always be open, but we simply don’t have enough staff. If I’m here all weekend, I’m unavailable during the week. That’s difficult with such a small team.

Right now, we’re applying for funding to create a “garden room” on the terrace — basically a large greenhouse with a small kitchen, plants, tables, and seating areas. Students would have 24/7 access using their student card. So even when we’re closed in the evenings or weekends, they can still meet there, cook together, play games, and get out of their student rooms for a while.

We also hope this will allow us to stay accessible outside office hours.

Interviewer: Do you also collaborate with external networks like Firda or CIOS?

Campus Connect: Yes. Soon we’ll host a kind of orientation internship through Marketing & Communication. I believe the students are from Firda. They’ll explore different departments within NHL Stenden and also spend time here at Broeze. I’ll explain what we do and let them work on something creative.

We’ve also organized bootcamps with sports students from Firda. They handled the sports content, and we provided the facilities and support. We’re constantly looking for new connections.

We also had students working on the “community fridge” project in the hallway to reduce food waste. They’re already improving and redesigning it. We actively try to involve students in projects wherever possible, including MBO students.

Interviewer: Are there opportunities to continue working within Campus Connect after graduation?

Campus Connect: Not really. We’re simply too small for that. Campus Connect mainly consists of me and my colleague Irene, who runs  Campus Connect on Terschelling. We stay in contact daily, but there’s no budget to hire additional staff permanently. Most of the event work is carried out by fourth-year LEM students.

Interviewer: Can students also do internships on Terschelling?

Campus Connect: Definitely. The atmosphere there is very different though. Most students there study maritime programs, and everyone knows each other. The Maritime Institute has existed for over a hundred years, so there are many traditions. We’re trying to modernize some of that culture a bit.

In the past, hazing traditions could be very rough, like walking through town with a bag over your head. We don’t want that anymore. Instead, we want to involve the island’s nature and community more. The students are often very young and far from home for the first time, so we try to guide them positively and encourage cooperation with the island community.

Starting in September, Irene will also have a marketing student helping with social media and marketing for Terschelling. We haven’t had a Leisure & Event Management student there yet, but if someone is interested in the future, they’re very welcome.

Interviewer: Would there be accommodation there?

Campus Connect: We’d have to figure that out. We’ve arranged housing for students before, because traveling back and forth constantly isn’t realistic. Ideally, students would stay there during the internship period.

There’s also a strong student association there that organizes many activities, and Irene works closely with them to create activities that aren’t only focused on drinking beer but also on other meaningful experiences. If you ever have more questions, I’m here four days a week — Monday through Thursday — working at that table in the corner. Feel free to stop by anytime.

Interviewer: Thank you so much for your time, these are all of our questions. Thank you for enlightening our students!