Venla shares her story of how the eventful three years with Una Europa and Local Task Force Helsinki truly made her Master studies more meaningful - meeting great people from all around Europe, growing skills to develop ideas into projects, and learning about her own ambitions of how to help students to grow professionally during their time at the university while having fun!
What specifically interested you and drew your attention towards the Una Europa alliance?
I have always been a curious person, interested in cultural exchange, traveling, awareness of local and global issues and in the improvement of democracy. I have looked for international opportunities since I was young. This motivation eventually led me to apply for the Una Europa One Health Summer School held in Edinburgh in 2022, as I was interested to learn about the multidisciplinary approach on solving the global health problems.
After the One Health School I decided immediately to join the LTF, as I wanted to be a part of creating similar meaningful events and opportunities for other students, and on a more local level, since not everyone can and has time to travel. I also wanted to make friends with different backgrounds and from different faculties in the university, as I feel the Finnish faculty related organisations and student communities are sometimes very closed organisms, and concentrated more on leisure activities rather than professional projects or important core themes, which Una Europa has plenty (e.g. One Health, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability).
Most of my Bachelor studies were affected by the COVID and during that time it was difficult to make friends, engage with international opportunities or in general enjoy the student life. Una Europa, then, offered me a second chance to start that student life fresh, with the twist of interesting opportunities to also develop my professional skills in project management and event organising.
What kind of opportunities has Una Europa given you? How has it helped you grow personally and professionally?
I have learned international and multidisciplinary community building, project management and essential team work skills. I have also gained more confidence in presenting and voicing my ideas.
I have had the pleasure and privilege to represent the Una Europa Helsinki abroad twice, once in Edinburgh and once in Strasbourg at the European Parliament as a delegate to European Student Assembly. The summer school taught me problem solving skills and working together with people from very different academic backgrounds, which proved to be a challenge, in a good way.
In Strasbourg, as a panel coordinator for a team of 20 students I got to practice concrete leadership skills: How to communicate to a big group of students located in different countries with various academic interests, how to manage schedules, how to make different people work together in the most efficient and constructive way, how to guide people to improve their own ideas and present them to others, and how to collect all those ideas and put them together to a presentable document.
In LTF Helsinki I had a pleasure to navigate some of the international cooperation with other European LTF’s, to plan and organise workshops and events online and at the university, and plan the possibilities for the students to interact more with the staff members, specialists and academics of Una Europa.
This project idea “Una Professionals” took its first steps at the International Engagement Fair held in the university in November 2024, where students and visitors could talk to the professionals and ask about their projects and about the work of Una Europa. This sparked curiosity not only from students towards the staff but the other way around: The professionals can get interesting insights from the students’ perspectives as well.
What kind of impact do you think the Local Task Force has had so far at the University? What challenges have you faced?
Understanding the structures of Una Europa takes time and the projects can sometimes overlap multiple semesters so one of the challenges is maintaining the continuity, the balance between the older students and the new members. This has meant for me and the others the patience and willingness to guide the new students and include them in the projects, adjust them, and also openness for having constantly new ideas and talents onboard.