Why should I be interested in politics? Isn’t it boring? Would my opinion even be considered? Why should I care about economics and global issues if I am not even concerned?
Like many other students in our generation, these questions kept popping up in my head, and sadly they held me back: They held me back from taking initiatives and didn’t let me respond to appearing opportunities.
I didn’t have enough confidence in myself nor in my qualities, neither did I have the courage to make the first step to become a better person.
All of this changed, when I joined the YEL-Club of our school.
The first time I heard of it, was by overhearing a conversation between two students from my school.
I heard them saying, how great the Club is, how glad they are that they joined it.
Until today I don’t know what got into my mind at that precise moment because instead of my usual thoughts rejecting politics, I thought: Let’s try.
And today, I am glad to write down these words, saying that the YEL has had one of the biggest impacts I have experienced in my life. This unique and special club influenced my behaviour, attitude and motivation in the most positive way possible.
The YEL- Club gave me confidence.
As a member of the YEL–Club I experienced many moments, in which I had to be confident with myself and aware of my abilities. By giving presentations in our school about the YEL, by experiencing my first MUN, representing the interest of a country as important as France, or participating at debates. Those moments forced me to surpass myself.
The YEL-Club showed me that politics is one of the most important things in life.
Every time we discuss a new topic, or during a debate, I notice that most of the topics I didn’t feel concerned about, suddenly do concern me. As we get the chance to discuss with political leaders, I noticed how politics have an impact on everything that happens in all the different societies in our world and how these can be influenced by each other. In that respect, I also learned how to play a more active role in society by cooperating with local authorities.
The YEL-Club gave me new abilities
Thanks to the YEL, I got the chance to improve my communication and argumentation skills via debating activities without even noticing. Doing research on political topics, preparing for MUN’s, writing reports, discussing with other students, writing resolutions, interacting with Luxembourgish EU-Deputies: These activities initiated a positive development, not only of my intellectual, communication and argumentation skills but also of my motivation and organization capacities.
The YEL-Club has made me open-minded
During most of the already mentioned activities, I got the opportunity to learn something new.
The more time I spent at the YEL, the more open-minded I became. During each meeting, each activity, each trip, I always get to know new information, which sometimes leads to me changing my opinion about certain topics.
I could go on and write down another 100 changes that happened in my life since I became a member of the YEL-Club, but like most things in life, the YEL is something that shouldn’t only be read about, but something that must be experienced. I am grateful for these experiences, and I am even more grateful that I can share these experiences with all my friends at the Club.
All the members, all the international friendships that were made during trips, every teacher putting effort into the project, every person somehow involved at the YEL, all of them are responsible for this positive change in my life and at the end I would like to thank every single one of them, for their engagement and commitment to the YEL.
One of the YEL’s ambitions is to give young people the opportunity to gain skills for their personal and professional career, and I think that for me, this ambition has been reached.
The impact that the YEL had on my personality, helped me making plans for my future.
I want to study law and political sciences, to become a lawyer, and maybe even at some point become a EU lawyer. I think that everything that I learned at the YEL will turn out as a great value for my future, as a basis for my studies and my career. I believe that all these skills, will help me during my time at university and that they will turn out more than useful for me to become a lawyer. Doing research, public speaking, communication and argumentation, organization, being open-minded and confident, these are all qualities that are required to become a successful lawyer, and thanks to the YEL I got an early chance to strengthen these abilities.
I am proud and glad to be a Young European Leader.
Miguel Ghzal
