The year 2020, and a whole new decade, has begun and TAYK’s new board is hard at work in planning activities for the upcoming year! The board has now held two meetings and we already have a calendar full of exciting events for this spring to look forward to. An important thing will be the 75th anniversary of the UN, which we will be a part in celebrating. Furthermore, we have new interesting collaborations coming up. All in all there’s much to look forward to this year! Most importantly, in order for our members and readers to get to know our board better, we asked each of the members to answer a few hard hitting questions.
Jasmiina Ahonen, Chairperson
Who are you? My name is Jasmina and I’m studying in the Leadership for Change Master’s programme at Tampere University. Before studying in Tampere, I lived in Helsinki for four years and in France for one, but to be honest, it feels good to be home, now. I’m the chairperson for TAYK in 2020. It’s my second year in the board as in 2019 I was responsible for events and excursions with my super-partner Nicole!
What are your tasks? My tasks are various, but in short, I need to keep track of everything happening in TAYK. Basically, that means communicating with each sector, ensuring everyone is familiar with what is expected of them, motivating everyone, listening to their ideas, thoughts and worries, and helping everywhere I can. Last week, this meant finding out when there’s a training for new treasurers which required sending some emails and asking around if anyone knew. Most of the times, this position is super rewarding as I get to see how everyone enjoys doing their part and has fun, but sometimes it takes a lot of time putting out little fires.
How does the UN inspire you? The UN has always been a somewhat distant institution to me. However, joining TAYK has taught a lot as this gives you great possibilities for familiarising yourself with the many aspects of the UN. What I find the most inspiring about the UN is its way of creating dialogue between peoples. To me open dialogue where everyone in the society is heard and has the possibility to speak up, is the only means for lasting peace. So, in a way it’s also the inclusivity, yet this one takes a lot more global effort to actually happen one day.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Teleporting. I could still travel but wouldn’t waste scarce resources nor pollute while at it!
Nina Hokkala, Vice-Chairperson
Who are you? My name is Nina and I am the vice chairperson this year. I moved to Tampere last autumn to study political science and already feeling like I have lived here all my life. My two passions are spending hours wandering in a forest, and binge watching f.r.i.e.n.d.s.
What are your tasks? What are your tasks as vice chair? My main task is to support Jasmina as chairperson and everyone else whenever they need help. Also I am helping to make sure the association operates smoothly.
How does the UN inspire you? The sustainable development goals inspire me because I am very passionate about sustaining life on this blue planet of ours.
If u had one superpower, what would it be? I would like to talk to animals.
Essi Peuraniemi, Secretary
Who are you?My name is Essi and I’m TAYK’s secretary for the year 2020.
What are your tasks? My tasks are mainly related to arranging the meetings and writing minutes. Before meetings I send invitations and prepare the agenda. During meetings I write down all decisions and afterwards I have them approved and print all the papers.
How does the UN inspire you? UN is important to me considering my studies and future career. I’m interested to learn more about the institutions and peace building.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? My superpower would be the ability to teleport so that I could travel the world and see new places quickly.
Tinja Huhtala, Treasurer
Who are you?I’m Tinja Huhtala, 4th year student of international relations and the new treasurer of TAYK. This is my first year in TAYK’s board.
What are your tasks? My tasks as a treasurer are: updating the member register, accounting, taking care of the budget and monetary transactions and keeping the board updated on association’s economic situation.
How does the UN inspire you? The optimism of the UN really inspires me; that together we can actually make things happen and make the world a better and more equal place!
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? If I had a superpower it would definitely be teleportation! I could sleep a little longer every morning and also travel whenever I wanted – and ecologically!
Tiina Helin, Excursion and Event Coordinator
Who are you?I’m Tiina Helin, and I’m an event and excursion organizer.
What are your tasks?My position in Tayk’s board includes planning and organizing events, contacting potential cooperation partners and participating board meetings. I’m happy to share all the tasks with my partner, Meeri.
How does the UN inspire you? UN is a unique organization whose work is crucial when solving global, cross-border problems of the day. Long term goals and commitment for those is something we need in this fast-paced society, and UN as an organization is an example for the countries around the world about the positive effects that can be found with cooperation.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? I would be able to breathe underwater, as I admire the underwater world and would be amazing to be able to participate underwater life all around the world.
Meeri Pääkkö, Excursion and Event Coordinator
Who are you? I’m Meeri and I’m one of the two events coordinators.
What are your tasks? My field is organizing events and coming up with new event ideas. This includes a variety of small tasks.
How does the UN inspire you? I think it’s awesome that the UN exists, because it’s an organization built on the co-operation of all of the countries. I think we need more of this. It’s important to try to find agreement even when disagreeing. For example the goals of Agenda 2030 are giving us guidelines how we could achieve a better and more sustainable world, the world that belongs to all of us.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? It’s very hard to decide between flying and being able to hold breath for a very long time. To be a bird or to be a fish, that’s the question. Practically I’m a half fish already, since I’ve always loved spending time in water.
Taika Ahonen, Publicist and External Relations Coordinator
Who are you? Hey, I’m Taika and I’m a sophomore student of international politics. I’m one of two publicists for TAYK this year. I’m leaving for Korea for an exchange semester, so you won’t find me in TAYK’s events this spring. I will however fulfill my duties with the help of my publicist partner Nella.
What are your tasks? As one of the publicists, I’m in charge of promoting TAYK and communicating with other student associations and admining TAYK’s email-list, which means I write our newsletter emails and send them to our emailing list and to other student associations to promote our events and activities. I also do other admin duties for our lists. In addition, I am responsible for updating our website and coordinating posts for TAYK’s blog. Twitter is one of my responsibilities as well.
How does the UN inspire you? Having an interest in the UN comes with my field of study, I would say. I am especially interested in global governance and UN is the most important institution. As a active TAYK and board member I wish to learn more about what the UN does to solve and manage global issues like climate change. I am also excited to play a small part in fulfilling UN’s sustainable development goals at a grass-roots level.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? I would love to be able to speak all languages, including ones that are no longer spoken. I believe this would make me more competitive in international job market. I could also help in reviving extinct languages and languages that are losing speakers!
Nella Virkola, Publicist and External Relations Coordinator
Who are you? My name is Nella, I’m 20 years old and studying political science at Tampere University as a first-year student. I am originally from Vantaa but moved here to Tampere for my studies! I love long walks with my dog, card games, cooking and weirdly enough, studying. My position in TAYK’s board this year is the communications coordinator (the other one, as there are two of us!). I’m really looking forward to this year in TAYK’s board!
What are your tasks? What are your tasks as the other communications coordinator? My tasks as communications coordinator include updating TAYK’s Instagram and Facebook, mainly creating events and posts to be published on these platforms. This also includes posting and advertising ongoing themes and actions from the UN Youth or possibly other UN organizations. My other tasks include, for example, taking care of TAYK’s email lists and coordinating writers for TAYK’s blog. As the communications coordinator it is important for me to stay up to speed on current events and themes of the higher-level UN organizations.
How does the UN inspire you? For me, UN’s Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development is very inspirational. It offers many important goals for the years to come and stresses the importance of global cooperation in order to tackle problems such as famine, poor education and global warming. With this it is important to remember that change doesn’t happen all at once but requires strong commitment and solidarity. I feel like UN is the place for that, as it strives to be an organization where everyone feels welcome.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? If you had one superpower, what would it be? I would most definitely want to master the skill of flying. It would save me so much time.
Mérédith Chuzel-Marmot, Peace Day Coordinator
Who are you? Hey, I’m Meredith Chuzel, a French student settled in Finland for 2 years. With a. With a background in politics, I am currently studying a master’s at Leadership for Change with a minor in Gender studies. Vegetarian, Feminist and Eco-friendly, I’m working at making the world a better place to live.
What are your tasks? Elected as a Peace Day coordinator, I will organize the peace day Seminar around Gender violence
How does the UN inspire you? The 17 goals for 2030 are really inspirational. UN promotes peace and we should all work at strengthening it. Also, this year is the 20 years of UN Women and it is a good success toward women emancipation.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? As a super power, I would choose flying. Indeed, flying is carbon neutral and would enable to promote peace and continue a harmless discovery of the world.
