Meet us

Hello Elephants! Nice to meet you, I'm Bas de Vries, and this year I have the honourable task of serving as the president of Gezelschap Leeghwater. Alongside my six fellow board members, we will follow in the footsteps of the 155th board and form the 156th board of the oldest, most beautiful, and most enjoyable student association in the Netherlands!

A little bit about myself. I was born in 2002 in Noordwijk. I grew up in this beautiful seaside town and lived there all my life until I moved to Delft. I used to enjoy taking things apart and figuring out how they worked, although putting them back together was often a bit challenging. By choosing to study mechanical engineering, I wanted to learn how to create things. I was also quite active in sports, from playing hockey to going to the gym.

I am currently in my fourth year in Delft. I still need to complete the final courses of my bachelor's degree before I can start my master's degree. Before finishing my bachelor's, I wanted to give back to the association that means a lot to me.

I gained my first committee experience with the Dies committee. As a committee, we organized the lustrum week, which included a party, reception, chill-out area, excursion, and day and evening activities! Additionally, we successfully organized an active members' weekend. This was a tremendously enjoyable and educational period for me, during which I met many people and did things I otherwise wouldn't have done.

After the Dies committee, I felt it was time to join a more career-oriented committee (actually, a board): The Alumni Platform Mechanical Engineering Delft (APWD). Here, with my four fellow board members, we kept contact with alumni and developed the platform's future vision.

This year, I will dedicate my full-time efforts to our members, the members of Gezelschap Leeghwater. As the president, my role will involve keeping an overview. Additionally, I will also oversee various committees, working together to organize the coolest and most enjoyable events!

Feel free to drop by the office for a chat or a game of table football! Don't hesitate to approach me. See you soon at the office or at an event!

Hello Elephant, my name is Gijs Begthel, and I am the 156^th Secretary of Gezelschap Leeghwater. I originally hail from Rijswijk and have recently settled in Delft. This is because I have been studying Mechanical Engineering at TU Delft since 2021.

In my first year, I immediately joined a committee, COCo, which stands for the Course and Education Committee. Afterward, I began working on the 155^th Almanac, which will be presented during the Dies celebration. This year, I will set aside my studies entirely and dedicate a year to this wonderful association.

As Secretary, I am the first point of contact for all members of Gezelschap Leeghwater. Additionally, I will be responsible for managing the website and the archive. This year, I will also protect the Leeghwater Elephant with my life. In addition to all these board responsibilities, I will also be involved in three committees this year: the Freshmen Start-up Committee, the Alumni Platform for Mechanical Engineering, and the Freshmen Weekend Committee.

If you have any questions or just want to have a friendly chat, feel free to approach me at the office anytime!

My name is Friso, and this year I have been given the honor of overseeing the financially related matters of our beautiful association.

I began my studies in Mechanical Engineering in 2021, a choice fueled by my passion for technology. This interest in technology has been with me since I was a child; at the age of three, I used to stand fascinated for hours watching my parents' washing machine. In addition to starting my studies, I also joined a committee at Leeghwater that year. Together with my editorial team, we had the privilege of creating a beautiful almanac and enjoying many fun evenings. The following year, I joined the Excursion Committee, where we organized an amazing overseas trip and exciting excursions. I also worked on the acquisition committee for DCP that year. Alongside five others from different student associations, we called numerous companies to ensure that students from TU Delft could find the coolest job vacancies on our platform.

I am really looking forward to dedicating myself to our members this year and organizing exciting events, such as the campus run with the LoCo (sponsorship committee), which I have the privilege of QQ'ing this year.

Feel free to drop by the office if you want to chill, hang out, or have a nice coffee – I look forward to seeing you.

Hello everyone! I'm Lynn van der Hammen, 22 years old, and currently in my fourth year of study. Originally, I come from Dordrecht, but I've grown a bit fond of Delft by now.

During my high school years, I found everything quite interesting, which made choosing a major quite challenging. I hesitated for a long time between medicine and econometrics, but in the end, I wanted to find something that would allow me to combine my creativity with my passion for mathematics and help others. Biomedical engineering, one of the tracks within mechanical engineering at TU Delft, caught my attention. This was what I wanted to pursue!

Looking back now, I realize that I might have always been a true "ME enthusiast." As a child, I was always playing with LEGO, had various remote-controlled cars, and even considered math as my hobby (yes, really! It's in my friends' books).

My first year started right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant that many activities couldn't take place. This made me truly active within Leeghwater in my second year, where I helped organize the Blauwdruk festival. Then, I had the opportunity to spend half a year in Lisbon, which was definitely one of the highlights of my bachelor's degree. I had an incredible amount of fun and learned a lot. Back in Delft, I wanted to gain some work experience between my bachelor's and master's degrees. Involvement in the board life came my way and turned out to be exactly the challenge I was looking for!

Together with this amazing group of people, I'm really looking forward to dedicating myself to our wonderful association this year. My main focus this year is on undergraduate education within mechanical engineering. I'm incredibly motivated to support as many undergraduate students as possible and help them grow.

Feel free to drop by the office to have a coffee together, vent, enjoy some Snickers, and hopefully share lots of laughter.

Hi everyone! I'm Stijn Wildschut, and this year, I have the privilege of contributing to education with a focus on all master's students in mechanical engineering. I'm really looking forward to this, and it's going to be a fantastic year. I'll probably see many of you at the office, so it's also nice if you know a bit more about me.

I come from the beautiful city of Middelburg, located in the stunning region of Zeeland. From a young age, I wanted to become an inventor. Unfortunately, I learned over time that it's not exactly a real profession. Luckily, I discovered the field of mechanical engineering, where I could make that childhood dream come true! That's why, when I turned 18, I decided to leave picturesque Zeeland and come to Delft to pursue the most amazing degree ever.

For me, this rollercoaster ride began with Leeghwater's EJW (Freshmen Introduction Weekend). Although it looked different than usual due to COVID-19, I quickly met people there and got in touch with what Gezelschap Leeghwater has to offer. The decision to join a committee was, therefore, an easy one, and the BaCo (Battle Committee) was the first committee I joined. The friends I made in that committee, I still see every day, and one of them, Daphne, will be spending this year with me at the office. Because the experience in that committee was so enjoyable, I decided to continue and also participated in Lagerhuysch management and the NuCo (Freshmen Introduction Weekend Committee). In the Lagerhuysch, I also got to know another board member, Max.

Now, I get to fulfil another dream this year, being a part of the board of this wonderful association. In addition to my role's responsibilities, I will also be QQ'ing the Rally, BTC (Business Tour Committee), and Slurf redaction, and serving a role within the FSR (Faculty Student Council). I'm looking forward to everything this year has in store for me and what I can offer to you, the students. So, do drop by the office to hang out, study, or have a coffee!

Hi everyone,  

I am Ymke Vrednbregt , and this year I will be serving as the Commissioner for Career and Promotion in the 157th board of Gezelschap Leeghwater. I am 22 years old and from Breda. After spending my youth in Brabant, I decided to spread my wings and move to the Randstad. The cozy streets and charming cafes of Delft quickly made me fall in love with this city.  
Music was central to my childhood. Being part of a musical family, it was never a question of whether I would play an instrument, but rather when. After playing the flute for four years, I switched to piano, where my love for jazz music began. The music, which sounds so simple and smooth, turned out to be quite complex from a theoretical perspective, making it all the more interesting to me. To bring my musical passion to Delft, I joined Groover, where I could enjoy jam sessions and delve deeper into this genre.  

In high school, I always played hockey, but during my student years, I wanted to try a new sport. I signed up with Proteus-Eretes to start rowing, which I did with great enthusiasm for three years. In my first year, I rowed in the TopC4+ and discovered that I enjoyed training more frequently. In my second year, I started coaching while still participating in some sports, but I missed the competitive aspect. Therefore, in my third year, I joined the selection team and rowed with the First-Year Women’s team. This was a fantastic experience where I met a great group of girls.  

In my first year at Leeghwater, I became active in a first-year committee as the secretary of the Course and Education Committee (CoCo). During my year of COVID, I wanted to meet fellow students, and joining a committee at Leeghwater was the perfect way to do that. From one committee, I rolled into the next, the Women in Technology Committee, and then I moved on to the Media Committee. Photography has always been a hobby of mine, and I found it super cool to learn how to work with a more professional camera.  

After completing my bachelor’s degree, I wanted to do something different for a while. A year in the board seemed like a lot of fun, and so here I am. This year, I look forward to being creative and thinking of ways to inform our members about the activities we organize. If you have any great ideas, feel free to come by! And if you want to grab a coffee, I’m always up for that too. 😉

Hello,

My name is Max Leenstra, and this year, I will hold the position of Commissioner of External Relations. Born and raised in the beautiful city of Den Bosch, I eventually made the choice to come to Delft and study Mechanical Engineering here. This all started in 2019, and now my bachelor's degree is almost within reach. But first, I'm going to have an amazing year in the board.

You might be thinking: huh? Haven't you done some more things at Leeghwater before joining the board? Aber natürlich! In 2022, I, along with four other guys, managed 't Lagerhuysch, our wonderful faculty bar. Together, we organized a WoBo (Wednesday Borrel) every week. Additionally, we hosted various fantastic parties. After my year of management, I joined the BTC (Business Tour Committee). This is a committee more focused on senior students to foster connections between companies and students. In addition to my role as CEB at Leeghwater, I will also be taking on the role of secretary at the Supervisory Board of DCP.

If you have any further questions after this brief introduction about anything, feel free to come by the office for a chat. This concludes my presentation. Regards!