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a32 local
Wednesday 1 July 2020

Meet our columnists

ORANJESTAD — Aruba Today has five great columnists who contribute to our newspaper with their knowledge and creativity. Please let us introduce
to you Steve, Shanella, Anthony, Thais and Joris. They would surely appreciate your comments on their columns. Check out our website www.aru-
batoday.com to find their articles.

Creative Islander by Thais Franken
Thaïs G. Franken (24) is a recently graduated Aruban student at the University of Maas-
tricht (UM). She obtained her graduate double Master of Science degree in Public Policy
and Human Development in collaboration with the United Nations University Maastricht
Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT).
Back home, on the beautiful island of Aruba, she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Or-
ganization, Governance & Management (OGM) at the University of Aruba (UA), where
she successfully defended her thesis titled “Placing Culture and Creativity at the Heart
of the Aruban Sustainable Development”. It was precisely this research project that in-
spired the emergence of the “Creative Islander” column in 2018. Thaïs is very passionate
about topics such as sustainability, innovation, culture, creativity, social entrepreneur-
ship and their role in public management. Next to her academic interests, she enjoys
reading, writing, dancing and cooking..

Island Insight by Anthony Croes of Etnia Nativa
Anthony Croes is an Etnia Nativa based artist at Westpunt, originally from Companashi.
As a child, he demonstrated a natural interest and respect for his old world heritage
as well as his natives’ ancestor’s history and their survival challenges. This same interest
encouraged him to pursue anthropological studies as an academic call. For someone
with such interest in cultural expressions it is no surprising that Aruba Today welcomed
him as a columnist.

Hotel Hustle by Shanella Pantophlet
Aruban born and bred Shanella Pantophlet is passionate about tourism. That is the world
she studied and works in, so we might as well call her a specialist. Luckily for Aruba To-
day Shanella also loves to write. Together with the fact that the majority of our readers
are tourists, we found ourselves a perfect combination for a column: Hotel Hustle.

Today’s Catch by Joris Zandvoort
Dutch Joris Zantvoort is a writer at Fisherbooker.com. He writes a monthly fisher report for
Aruba Today. The company works with 17 captains in Aruba that help him create this
report containing information like: What is currently in the water? What can you catch?
Amazing pictures are being shared and part of the column shows The Captain of The
Month.

Today’s Click by Steve Francees
Aruban born and bred Steve Francees has a passion for photography. Being a local
photographer he knows the hidden gems of this island and captures them in an amaz-
ing way. As a Family and Landscape photographer Steve is ready to create your next
‘vacation memories’, morning and/or sunset shots.