The logo of the new study association Minoa. Image Minoa Minoa is currently a subgroup of Biologica, the Biology study association. Joost Bouwman (20), a Marine Sciences student and member of Minoa’s first board with responsibility for internal affairs: ‘Our first event was last Monday, when we presented our logo and had a sociable drinks do.’
Minoa refers to an ancient European civilization that focused entirely on overseas trade, including with Crete and Sicily, says Bouwman. ‘All Marine Sciences students were able to vote for their favourite name. Other options were Thalassa, a sea goddess from Ancient Greek mythology, and Nemo, from the Disney film Finding Nemo.’
Bouwman started as a student at Wageningen studying Soil, Water, Atmosphere. ‘So I knew its study association Pyrus. When I switched to Marine Sciences in September, I missed having something like that. When the idea of starting Minoa came up, I immediately applied to be on the board.’
Aquarius
A lot is involved in starting a new study association, says Bouwman. ‘Fortunately Biologica helped us. That is why we are officially a kind of sub-association of theirs at the moment, but we are really just the Marine Sciences study association.’
Incidentally, there is already a study association — Aquarius — for the MSc in Aquaculture and Marine Resource Management that follows the Marine Sciences BSc. ‘It is a sub-association of Veetelers, the study association for the Animal Sciences,’ says Bouwman. ‘But there was no room for us for some reason.’ There is a chance that Minoa and Aquarius will merge in the future to form one study association for both Bachelor’s and Master’s students. ‘That would indeed be logical,’ says Bouwman.
