Stella Verdult

→ Can you describe the role of being a reflection coach?

As a Reflections Coach, I facilitate group conversations on relevant topics to help students with their professional development. I align topics with the calendarium, finding themes that resonate with all student levels. For example, a conversation about internships might expand into networking, something that benefits everyone. The sessions provide a space to discuss things that may not be addressed in class—like what might go wrong or the nuances of the design field.

Honestly, I think the word for what I do should be moderator. I try to find a formula or way that everybody gets to participate. And that doesn’t have to mean that they have to actively talk, but that they engage. Usually I try to start a session by being vulnerable myself. If I want to address something like imposter syndrome, I need to give an example of my own experiences with imposter syndrome. To lower the barriers, right? I think my strategy, because it differs between coaches, is to be vulnerable myself. I’ll give a topic that might be relevant to them, and allow the conversation to develop naturally.

→ There is an emphasis in peer to peer learning within the Reflections programme. What is the importance of having a mandatory program within the Bachelor curriculum that is free from formal assessments?

It’s strange to make conversations mandatory, but without that, students might miss important insights they didn’t know they needed. It’s about exposing them to knowledge that might resonate later and that takes time to digest. Since it’s hard to measure the value of these discussions, there are no formal assessments. Every student takes away something different, and this space lets them reflect in a way that maybe the classroom can’t always accommodate.

I am a firm believer that the students are already so much on top of their game. They’re wise, they’re eager, they’re curious, but I also know that sometimes there is a type of information that needs to be repeated and distilled by someone who has already experienced it. Together with the other students we can give these topics new meanings and find possible answers. So you need to hear it once, maybe twice, maybe it’s not relevant yet. And then it can linger and develop within your own set of thoughts. However, it’s time and situation dependent. It’s very hard to pinpoint what exactly happens at that table. And it’s almost really not up to me to say that. As a student, you know best what lingered and what inspired you.

“The fact that we have such a rich exchange of how to do our coaching sessions. And the program has changed because, yeah, the group has grown.”

→ You have been a coach since the inception of the Reflection programme in 2022. What has changed?

For me, it’s quite humbling that I get to see the students grow. The students I started with are now in their 4th year and I got to see them change overtime. That’s incredible, honestly. Even so many tutors envy this concept of being so close to someone for so long. After a few years of coaching you realise that the best sessions are the ones where you’ve prepared a topic, but you end up talking about something completely different.

You learn to be mega flexible. As a coach you organize the session around a certain topic but often steer away from the initial thought or plan. This can be difficult in the beginning, but in the end its about you as students talking about what you need to talk about.

What’s also really beautiful is that the group has grown. We’re with more coaches and each and every one of them have their own topics, strategies or tips. We exchange a lot, which is so beautiful. It also enriches the program. There’s one coach, for example, who goes on so many walks and it inspires you to do this too. I think that has changed me as a coach, but also the program a lot. The fact that we have such a rich exchange of how to do our coaching sessions.

→ What would you say to students who might be struggling to find themselves within the programme?

I really like this question, I think we don’t talk about it enough. That’s also because you don’t always hear the struggling student. I may not know why the student is struggling, but I would recommend the student to tell the coach something like “listen, there’s no connection to the group or with you or the topics”. The coaches are all mega loving people so never hesitate to tell them. They might react startled but I am sure they will try to find a way for the student to feel heard and in place, even if that place might eventually be with another coach. Sharing these thoughts could be like shedding a skin, both for the coach and for the student.

“I really want to see that I can be a spokesperson for the students within this role.”

→ Next to coaching, I understand you recently took on a new exciting role in the Design Academy Eindhoven?

Yes I have, I started at the end of August this year as the strategic advisor of the executive board. I have been asked to help further develop and partially implement several topics, one of them being the collaboration with SintLucas. I will leave the other topics to reveal themselves in due time.

What is very beautiful about my position as a reflections coach is that I have my feet on the ground. Working alongside the executive board is a different kettle of fish, and how to have it land or how to not forget the student or how to not forget what is the essence of our education or how to understand politics in Eindhoven, it’s a fusion of all these things. And at all times, safeguarding the quality off all topics involved. I really hope I can be a spokesperson for the students within this role. For me it was one of the conditions - being able to stay on as a Reflections coach and being able to not be here full time so that I can have different things on my mind, that’s the only way to do this job, right?

“Yeah, it’s going to be a good year - a year of unknowns.”

→ What are you most excited about looking ahead?

There are two things that I’m really excited about. There’s the new role within Design Academy and seeing how this is going to unfold. Because, honestly, it’s a new position, meaning it needs to be shaped by me.

I need to see what my rituals are, what are my boundaries. This is unknown and therefore exciting. And there’s another new thing that I’m working on, a self initiated campaign on how we relate to our possessions. Our relationship to our things also has its roots in my background in fashion. I’m working on this campaign with the help of designer Liz, a former SintLucas student coincidentally. I’m including young designers to help me shape this campaign and I don’t know exactly how it is going to unfold. So that is also very beautiful.
Yeah, it’s going to be a good year - a year of unknowns.