Our favourite LS Serbia brings home the title The LS that has been awarded to be the “Favourite LS” in this edition of the EPSA Newsletter is the LS from NAPSer, Jovana Češljević. She is a 25 year-old pharmacy student from Novi Sad in Serbia. She is studying at the Medical Faculty in the University of Novi Sad, where she is finalizing her pharmacy studies this year. With the title comes an award, which is the great EPSA t-shirt. Here is what Jovana has to say about being an LS in EPSA:
Why did you become the LS for NAPSer? Before the creation of NAPSer as a united national association, I was the LS of our local association (PSANS) for one year. I’ve seen myself in this position since my first EPSA event, which was the 31st EPSA Annual Congress in Novi Sad. It was a big challenge for me - taking one step forward and upgrading my local activities with the ones on the national level.
What does it mean to you to be an LS? I am very proud of being the LS of NAPSer, and I’m quite sure this position fits the best for me, concerning my character, interests and motivation. As LS, I’m being the most important link between my country, its students and EPSA. Unfortunately, as you all probably already know, Serbia is one of the least developed countries in Europe, with lack of opportunities for young people. Therefore, the fact that I come from
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Serbia probably motivates me the most. Bringing EPSA to Serbian students means bringing them Europe, European values, ideas, and a lot of different projects, which they wouldn’t be able to experience without EPSA.
Have you held any positions earlier in your local/national association or in EPSA? Yes of course. Firstly I was member of the Mobility Working Committee for one year, and that was actually my first contact with EPSA. For my work, I was awarded with the Certificate for outstanding performance after the 2007/2008 mandate. I also held the position of Local Exchange Officer (LEO) and after that I became the LS for my local association PSANS. Now I am LS, temporary National IMP coordinator and Member of Executive Board of NAPSer as well as a member of Parliamentarian board of PSANS.
Is there any particular situation that you remember from your time as an LS that is especially worth mentioning? Well, I remember a lot of different either nice or funny situations, but unfortunately the EPSA Newsletter doesn’t have enough pages for all of my stories :)
Why would you recommend someone to become an LS? Being LS expands your views, brings you a lot of different experience and skills and the possibility to meet your colleagues all over Europe. By spending time with them, you can discover a lot about other countries: Their cultures, university systems and professional opportunities. Some of the people I’ve met during my involvement in the work of EPSA, I cannot consider my colleagues anymore, because they became my friends for life. This is certainly the most valuable thing I gained from EPSA!