Arvi Nykopp

Dear Former of the Board and Guild members!

I am Arvi Nykopp, a 3rd-year materials science student and the most inactive member of Kaplaaki (Student association for IEM students in LUT-University).

It is once again that time of year when the new board is being formed, and both the members and the board are wondering who will apply for which position. To your delight, as Paavo Väyrynen said, “I am available.” I am applying for the position of Head of Internal and External Affairs (SUV) on the 2027 board, as I feel I would be a suitable fit for this diverse board position at PT. I became interested in the SUV position purely out of curiosity. The role is versatile and allows you to get your hands into all sorts of things, such as alumni activities, sports, and the development of external relations.

Over the last two years of my studies and volunteer work, I have had the chance to serve here and there in various roles. During the past year, I have been a part of PT’s Harassment Contact Person group, and I have also volunteered in Foreign Excursion Apprentice at PT. As an apprentice, I have enjoyed being able to create something new and develop the old. I believe these traits would be highlighted in the SUV role, as the committee led by the SUV is a very diverse package comprising many different official positions.

In addition to the corporate and networking sector, my work as a Harassment Contact Person has allowed me to actively ensure that every member feels comfortable, heard, and safe at our guilds events. I feel that my experience as a official, combined with my chatty and laid-back yet proactive, “get-things-done” personality, will be an asset in this position. Despite my talkative nature, I consider myself a good listener who ensures that everyone gets their voice heard. This is vital when running a committee, so that the thoughts, comments, and brilliant ideas of the officials can take center stage.

I am also eager to jump into something new and learn new things through the SUV position. I believe I can handle the duties of the Head of Internal and External Affairs well, to say the least, and successfully advance the guild’s sports and well-being activities as well as its external relations.

Arvi

Is there any specific unit of Care committee that you would like to develop? Why and how / why not?

I personally see the Care Committee as quite a dynamic entity. Its development is naturally influenced by my own interests, but also entirely by what the members want and what is needed at any given time.

Keeping contact with our sister guilds is my point of interest but, in this question, I will focus more on other aspects of the Care committee that need development/maintaining.

The Care Committee is responsible for many areas, including the maintenance of our guild room, alumni activities, as well as well-being and sports activities. These areas have the biggest impact on the daily lives of guild members, so maintaining them efficiently and developing them when necessary is important. By maintaining these areas, we make it possible for every guild member to find a great group of people and events that feel like their own. Perhaps the only thing to develop in these areas would be to find out exactly what the members want right now or in the future. There is no point in organizing a sports event that only a few people like. With the same amount of effort, we could, for example, organize a relaxed breakfast on a cold frosty morning at the p-Room, which would benefit more members. Regarding sports events, I want to ensure that the events include sports and sport trials that genuinely interest the members, so that people show up and the events are a success. The solution to this is to actively ask the members what they want and why.

Managing sister guild relations is an important part of the tasks of the Head of Internal and External Affairs. What goals or ideas do you have for fostering sister guild relations in the coming year?

In the SUV role, what interests me the most is communication and cooperation between sister guilds. It’s fun to see sister guilds at annual balls, but it would also be nice to organize joint events with sister guild members at times other than just at PT’s herring breakfast once a year. In this area, too, communication between sister guilds plays a key role. Activities between sister guilds should be discussed frequently enough, keeping each other up to date so we can start developing something new or continue traditions.

Joint events for sister guilds could include the following: Sitsit as an evening program during excursions, guild room presentations for sister guild members, overall exchange rituals when visiting a sister guild, or organizing a larger event between multiple sister guilds. What would resonate with me the most is a joint board game night for sister guilds at a nice bar whenever one of them arrives in Otaniemi. If the sky were the limit, a joint excursion between PT and [insert chosen sister guild here] would be an amazing experience, but potentially difficult to execute, as we would need to find a company willing to host about 40 engineering students. It would be fun to organize the excursion so that both guilds travel about halfway to meet each other on the excursion, followed by some sort of joint evening get-together. But I want to emphasize that if we want to cherish the relationships between sister guilds, communication is a crucial part of this as well.

The Care Committee has a wide range of officials. How would you ensure the communication and activity in each part of the care committee throughout the year?

Fortunately, the Head of Internal and External Affairs doesn’t have to do everything alone; many things are done in cooperation with the various officials of the Care Committee. I would handle general information for the Care Committee regarding joint meetings, recreation events, and other important matters in a so-called “Care Committee general” Telegram channel, which would include all committee members.

For the different sectors of the committee, I would create their own TG groups (one for the Culture and Well-being Coordinators [KuHyt], one for Alumni Coordinators, one for Game Masters, one for Bridge Builders, and one for the Shift Master and Process Operators), where I can announce important info to the officials and track the progress of tasks.

I would assign different responsibilities to the various officials and hold meetings with each group as needed, so that the officials in every sector have a clear understanding of what is being done and why. In general, I would give the committee members free rein to make each event their own, but I would still keep an eye out to ensure that the goals I set for each sub-group are met.

Here is an example of how a couple of these sub-groups would operate:

I believe I would meet most often with the Culture and Well-being Coordinators within my committee, because this official role heavily reflects both the officials themselves and me. In other words, the culture and well-being activities take the shape of what we make of them, and brainstorming together plays a key role in ensuring smooth operations.

With the Bridge Builders, we would create a clear plan right from the start of the year regarding our vision for advancing sister guild activities, and we would divide clear areas of responsibility to achieve our desired goals.

I would ensure active operations in each sub-group with good old-fashioned meetings at appropriate times whenever something is in the works. Also, every official would have their own to-do list so that everyone stays on track with what needs to be done. For this to-do list, I would utilize the help of “lead” officials, like the Shift Master. This means the Shift Master ensures that all the Process Operators are on track, and I personally monitor how the Shift Master is steering that cart. Reminder messages also play an important role in promoting active operations, ensuring that each official gets their work done on time.