PHOTO: SIESE VEENSTRA
MAAIKE SCHOON
TEXT ELLIS ELLENBROEK
Maaike Schoon (42),
journalist and presenter of Buitenhof (VPRO) and the NPO 1 podcast
Europa Draait Door; studied Journalism at the UG (Master’s, 2006-2008)
and previously Theatre Studies at the University of Amsterdam (2002-2005),
with a year in England
Special place
Harmoniegebouw
Groningen. University. But also countless
streets, houses, bridges, and squares where memories lie. Well-known former University
of Groningen (UG) students share their
special places.
What I suspect is that the lecturers thought it was important for the RTV students to focus on the basics: shooting reports, switching, dealing with cables. Anything that smelled of glamour, like presenting, apparently wasn’t the point. Or maybe they saw raw presenting talent in me. Who knows. The lecturer did advise me to keep the recording of ‘Harmonieuws’ so
I could use it for my CV. But I thought: ‘I’m never doing this again.’
I hated it. I stood there like a sort of puppet, reading other people’s texts. My eyebrows were all over the place—they still are, but back then it was worse. That ‘Harmonieuws’ kept me away from television for at least ten years. When I applied for ‘Buitenhof’, it was somewhere in the back of my mind. Apparently, I could do it. That presenting. Because that’s when I got picked for it too.’
‘My entire year of studying journalism was – and I’m not exaggerating – one of the best years of my life. I had never been to Groningen before. I’m from Akersloot, a real provincial. But I loved everything about Groningen.
I met my partner there; he was also studying journalism. Another highlight was at 4 a.m., screaming along to ‘Als de morgen is gekomen’ by Jan Smit with a friend at café Shooters.
There were newspaper students and radio and television students. I belonged to the first group. Written journalism is where my heart lies. That said, I did the make-up for the presenters of the talk show they were producing for RTV. I used to be very involved with
make-up – thanks to an aunt in the industry, I also did make-up jobs.
At one point, the RTV students had to record a news broadcast. The big question was: who would present this so-called ‘Harmonieuws’? A lecturer said, ‘Maybe we should give the make-up artist a chance.’ I don’t remember all the details, but I suspect there were people from the RTV programme who said, ‘Hey, I actually study this – why does she get to do it?’
PHOTO: SIESE VEENSTRA
a sort of puppet, reading other people’s texts’
MAAIKE SCHOON
What I suspect is that the lecturers thought it was important for the RTV students to focus on the basics: shooting reports, switching, dealing with cables. Anything that smelled of glamour, like presenting, apparently wasn’t the point. Or maybe they saw raw presenting talent in me. Who knows. The lecturer did advise me to keep the recording of ‘Harmonieuws’ so I could use it for my CV. But I thought: ‘I’m never doing this again.’
I hated it. I stood there like a sort of puppet, reading other people’s texts. My eyebrows were all over the place – they still are, but back then it was worse. That ‘Harmonieuws’ kept me away from television for at least ten years. When I applied for ‘Buitenhof’, it was somewhere in the back of my mind. Apparently, I could do it. That presenting. Because that’s when I got picked for it too.’
‘My entire year of studying journalism was – and I’m not exaggerating – one of the best years of my life. I had never been to Groningen before. I’m from Akersloot, a real provincial. But I loved everything about Groningen.
I met my partner there; he was also studying journalism. Another highlight was at 4 a.m., screaming along to ‘Als de morgen is gekomen’ by Jan Smit with a friend at café Shooters.
There were newspaper students and radio and television students. I belonged to the first group. Written journalism is where my heart lies. That said, I did the make-up for the presenters of the talk show they were producing for RTV. I used to be very involved with make-up – thanks to an aunt in the industry, I also did make-up jobs.
At one point, the RTV students had to record a news broadcast. The big question was: who would present this so-called ‘Harmonieuws’?
A lecturer said, ‘Maybe we should give the make-up artist a chance.’ I don’t remember all the details, but I suspect there were people from the RTV programme who said, ‘Hey, I actually study this – why does she get to do it?’
Groningen. University. But also countless
streets, houses, bridges, and squares where memories lie. Well-known former University
of Groningen (UG) students share their
special places.
Maaike Schoon (42),
journalist and presenter of Buitenhof (VPRO) and the NPO 1 podcast Europa Draait Door; studied Journalism at the UG (Master’s, 2006-2008)
and previously Theatre Studies at the University of Amsterdam (2002-2005), with a year in England
Special place
Harmoniegebouw
TEXT ELLIS ELLENBROEK