During the summer, IT Support Person Elias Perttu and Information Officer Henna Palonen have joined the ranks of the Aalto University Student Union. Perttu, who is completing his civilian service at AYY, is a new face at the Student Union, while Palonen has years of AYY experience.

AYY’s new IT Support Person Elias Perttu studies Automation and Information Technology at the Aalto University. He has no previous experience of student union work.

“I’ve thought about applying to the Department of Computer Science, as that feels more like the field for me. At AYY, I’ve found a place to do my civilian service that makes sense for my future,” considers Perttu.

Information Officer Henna Palonen returned from parental leave in the beginning of August. She’s worked within AYY communications since 2011. Before her post at AYY, Palonen studied Speech Communication at the University of Jyväskylä and was on the board of the Student Union there.

“I was on leave for a year and a half. A lot can happen at the Student Union in that time, with many things changing and people coming and going. It’s interesting to come back,” says Palonen.

Both IT support and information officers work towards enabling the Student Union to offer the students of Aalto University the best possible member services and advocacy. When information systems function and communication is clear, the Student Union has its best chance of making a difference.

An IT support person solves the staff’s computer problems and maintains various online services aimed at AYY members. An information officer, for their part, talks about the Student Union’s activities on social media and in newsletters and online articles, for example.

“The work of an information officer is essentially about how the members and all other interested parties view the Student Union. It’s my job to consider what kind of an image AYY portrays,” describes Palonen.

The autumn ahead is a time of learning for both of them.

“It’s great that this job lets you come up with your own solutions instead of someone giving you strict instructions to follow. It’s important to gain practical experience. I’d like to learn more about data transmission and servers, aka how devices communicate with one another,” explains Perttu.

“Next, I’d like to work on my video production skills. I’d also like to develop a journalistic approach to member communication. After all, communication is nowadays all about story telling,” relates Palonen.

“Still, my biggest challenge for the autumn is getting used to my all-new everyday life and managing to combine work and family!”

”Syksyn suurin haaste on kuitenkin oppia elämään uutta arkea ja sovittamaan työ ja perhe yhteen!”

Both Perttu and Palonen mention that the best thing about working at the Student Union is the work community. The job allows them to work with the members and actives of the Student Union as well as their colleagues.

“It’s nice to be able to help others through your work. The AYY motto is the best student’s life in the world, and now I have ten months to help us achieve that,” laughs Perttu.

AYY is celebrating the Year of Arts in 2018. In addition to the Otaniemi Night of Arts, another highlight of the year is the smaller-scale event Elossa, which focuses on films.

Elossa is a film festival curated by students and student groups, and we would like to see students from all of Aalto’s schools and student communities take part in planning the festival. The festival will be held between the 29th of October and the 3rd of November at Kino Tapiola and Kino Sheryl.

“The goal is to create a diverse festival that looks like its creators, the students of Aalto”, says member of AYY’s Year of Arts working group Heidi Kulmala.

The Year of Arts working group is looking for eager student communities for the film selection process. Both associations operating within AYY’s sphere of influence and unofficial student organizations can take part in the process.

But what does this mean in practice, and what does it require of the participants?

Not to worry: the job is easy, and you only need a little bit of passion for films and the energy to organize a pre-qualification round and a simple poll. It requires only a little effort and an enthusiastic group of people that can come up with good ideas.

1. Sign up your community by emailing tero.uuttana@ayy.fi by the Mon 20th of August, 10:00.
2. If you are selected, you will receive more detailed instructions to your email on how to select the films, as well as the theme that the films should deal with or touch on in some way. The themes are quite flexible – so don’t worry, you will surely find films that fit the theme.
3. Appoint a preliminary jury from your community (e.g. the association’s board, or some other group). The preliminary jury will do a pre-qualification round of the films and choose 5–10 works for the next phase.
4. Organize a poll on the films selected by the preliminary jury for your members/community. You are free to organize the poll the way you see fit – you can do it e.g. through a Facebook group or via Google Forms.
5. Send the names of three films that received the most votes by Wednesday, the 29th of August, 12:00 noon to tero.uuttana@ayy.fi

All AYY members will also get a chance to vote on the theme films later on. Stay tuned!