OPENING DOORS TO ESPILÄ

Congratulations and welcome, new mursu. You have spectacular years ahead of you, and I hope that as you spend time at KY, you will learn new things about yourself and realize how versatility – yourself and others – is the key to everything. As I started as a mursu in 2017, I could not have imagined everything that I would experience at KY. Hundreds of interesting topics to learn in-class, a lot of new friends, different groups, and endless possibilities – sounds dreamy, and it truly is, as you understand that one person can be so many things. During your time at KY, you will learn to have different roles, handle different situations, and grow. You will do that with amazing people around you, who are all from different backgrounds and equipped with different skills. It is eye-opening to understand how little you understand and then understand more with the help of people around you. Versatility and diversity are something that keep us moving forward. The versatility and diversity of our community can be seen in everything we do; reading this, you have probably gotten the first impression of some things that KY members can get involved with. KY works for and only because of its members, and because each of our members is an individual with different interests and motivations, we at KY Office must offer services accordingly. To help each of our members navigate in their student life, we at Espilä (an office space across from Saha) offer a lot of different services and overall, do our very best to help you enjoy, try, and make choices. As a few practical examples: whether it is getting your KY member sticker, buying KY merch, choosing where to volunteer – we got your back. Also, we make great coffee. KY Office consists of wonderful individuals: we have Coordinators, Producers, Directors, and of course, the whole KY Association Board. As an Executive Director, I am responsible of office administration and as such aim to make KY work like a charm. Come say hi, we are always up to listening to how we could benefit our members more! At some point in your mursu year, you might notice that you have learned a lot of things that you never knew you would be learning. Of course, we come to the University to learn new things. Although, some of the most important life lessons happen outside the lecture halls. I want to give you one takeaway from my text: dare to challenge the norms and find new aspects of yourself! I promise it is worth it.

Heidi Riihimäki

KY’s Executive Director