One of the four pillars in JCI is “Training”. We interviewed trainer Berith Spoelstra, who is a member of JCI ’s-Hertogenbosch, to find out more about what this pillar within JCI means to her and what it could mean to you.

Personal development was Berith’s main reason to join JCI back in 2013. “I was looking for new opportunities, new learning moments, and to expand my network”, she tells us during our walking interview. “I found all this in the pillar training”. You can join a training with JCI, but you can also become a JCI trainer yourself. This is the path Berith has taken. To ensure and maintain our high level of training opportunities, it’s an intensive trajectory to become a trainer in the Netherlands. Since 2015 Berith had the ambition to become a trainer and realised this ambition in 2017 when she became a JCI trainer. “It’s so cool to be a JCI trainer but it can also be tough because this isn’t my fulltime job”, Berith admits. “Before every training I give I feel a healthy tension which keeps me focussed”. Berith proves that also in this JCI pillar the opportunities are endless. In 2019 and virtually in 2020, Berith facilitated a workshop at the JCI World Congress, here she could showcase and use her skills in front of tens of JCI members from all over the world. Berith’s advice to members who want to explore the pillar “training”: “just do it, don’t let yourself be held back, don’t be led, take the initiative!”