Emilia Bös: Naturally energetic

Emilia Bös comes from a community near Heidelberg. Even as a child, she showed her love of experimentation by trying out everything the village cosmos had to offer: from gymnastics and dancing to martial arts, equestrian sports and playing the flute to badminton and boules. At the center of family life, however, was the winery founded by her parents - which in turn grew out of a farm and a broom business run by her paternal grandparents. "As a small child, it was of course particularly exciting to ride on the tractor, run through the middle of the vines or use a long stick to remove the insects from the picked grapes so that they weren't pressed along with them," recalls Bös. The older she got, the more tasks she was given. However: "I knew early on that I didn't want to continue running my parents' winery. Because how much my parents had and still have to sacrifice to keep the business running is impressive, but also daunting," explains Bös.

Not only did her hobbies change, but her ideas of what she wanted to be when she grew up were also very changeable. "While I wanted to be a princess as a child, as a teenager I had a temporary obsession with hosting my own math TV show," says Bös, who also loved being on stage and dancing in a musical or treating ailments as a school paramedic. "Because there was no school paramedic service at our secondary school before, this was the first time I experienced what it was like to set up and develop something new," notes Bös. She was also asked by the initiating class teacher because she was already considered to be particularly responsible at the time. A quality that was also in demand when she took on the role of class representative at the subsequent social and health sciences high school and, as part of the Abitur committee, was in charge of designing the Abitur newspaper.

"I also enjoyed discussing politics with my father, who sits on the local council, or getting involved in political discussions with guests," says Bös, who only developed a real interest in politics when she became more intensively involved in the background to political decisions, for example in the debate about EU copyright law and the famous Article 13. With her A-levels in her pocket and the idea of becoming a politician in her head, she looked for a suitable course of study. An online test on the question "What should I study?" not only came up with political science, but also displayed courses and study locations, with the PAIR Bachelor at ZU appearing at the top of the list. "After scrolling through the ZU website, I knew that this was exactly my university," notes Bös. "I was particularly impressed by the lively discussions in small seminar groups and the opportunity to try things out in student initiatives."

Coming from a small community and a close circle of friends, she suddenly found herself surrounded by around 130 first-year students. "To keep an overview, I looked for student initiatives and made my first friends," remarks Bös, who was to find a friend for life in Till Burberg the evening before the introductory week. While their conversations repeatedly revolved around bands and concerts, after their first joint visit to the student-organized "Long Night of Music" festival, it was clear that they wanted to run the next edition as a management duo. "We have similarly high standards for ourselves and our work and knew from joint projects that we work well together and can rely on each other," explains Bös. "And thanks to a great team, we ultimately succeeded in putting together a festival that received positive feedback from many visitors and artists."

The idea of participating in university politics was also on Emilia Bös' mind from day one of her studies. She took her first steps in this direction when she became the Zeppelin annual speaker in her first semester and assistant to the student Vice President in her second semester. "Even if it may sound contradictory, it's by no means the case that I don't always carry certain self-doubts around with me. I remember seeing the then student Vice President on stage during my induction week and thinking: I could never do that!" says Bös. As an assistant, first to Amar Günther and later to Lena Haas, she experienced first-hand the positive and negative challenges associated with the office of student Vice President. "The assistant work was also valuable because it showed me how to deal with the different people at the university and how to organize events of all kinds at the university," reports Bös. While Amar Günther focused on a more lively student life during his term of office, Lena Haas' term of office was more characterized by university policy projects such as reaccreditation.

Meanwhile, Emilia Bös delved deeper into university politics when she took on the role of one of four student senators. "Subconsciously, of course, I set the course for my own student Vice Presidency, even though I kept looking for and finding reasons against it for a long time," Bös mentions. But in the end, there was no way around it when she remembered how much can be achieved and shaped in this office. She took office with the aim of making communication between the Executive Board and the student body more honest and open. "At the latest since the changes of office in the university management, my calendar was so full and there were such groundbreaking strategic issues on the agenda that some other projects fell by the wayside," remarks Bös. "However, this not only taught me a lot about the university, but even more about myself. Because I was forced to organize myself better and to structure my daily routine and work better."

Emilia Bös is used to finishing things once they have been started. "Even if I find it difficult to stop getting involved in university politics, for now I'm just looking forward to continuing and enjoying 'normal' student life," says Bös, who will nevertheless be on hand to advise the new student Vice President.