Dare to Step into the Unknown
As the year turned, a question kept spinning in my mind, stirring both excitement and uncertainty: should I dare to try something new or continue along the familiar and safe path? It’s easy to get caught up in daily routines without even noticing. Even though my time as a student here has been anything but boring, I still felt that maybe it was time to try something new again and take a new step into the unknown.
In the end, I decided to submit my application to the board in the final days, even though I didn’t have high expectations. To my surprise, I was selected, and soon I found myself sitting in the meeting room familiarizing myself with Enklaavi’s communications and website. At the same time, an entirely new daily life opened up before me: board duties and, unexpectedly, also the role of editor-in-chief took up a large part of my time, and adjusting to this new routine required some getting used to.
I knew from the very beginning that the role of head of communications would take me outside my comfort zone. But acting as editor-in-chief? That was a whole different world. At first, the role felt quite intimidating, but today I believe this has been one of the more rewarding experiences I’ve had. Little by little, I’ve found my own way of working and brought new perspectives to this magazine.
I must also extend my thanks to our amazing editorial team, which this year includes Jonas Jokinen, Veera Jukarainen, Siiri Pallanza Lundén, and Fayyaz Rafi, who have helped put this magazine together! Huge thanks also to everyone else who has written articles for the Wappu magazine.
Although changes and new challenges are very enriching, it’s also important to take care of your own well-being. Finding balance isn’t always easy - I’m writing this late at night at Enklaavi’s office, with the Head of the Board as my company. Luckily, there are plenty of amazing moments as well: events, sitsit, and our beloved Board ‘25, without whom none of this would be possible. And soon Marathon Monday and Wappu will arrive, bringing with them countless of unforgettable memories. Or maybe we’re already living in full Wappu spirit by the time you’re reading this!
Finally, I want to encourage everyone to step outside their comfort zone or to take a new step in their lives. Whether it’s a new summer job (which I hope you got, even if it might have felt hopeless), meeting new people, or working on your weaknesses, dare to try. It’s amazing what we are ultimately capable of, even if something feels difficult or scary at first.
Good luck for the whole year — we’ll reconnect latest in the fresher edition!
Wappu greetings, Oona Koivisto
DECIDE WITH SENSE AND SENSIBILITY – kokokassa.fi/en/
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via The Finnish Business School Graduates: jasenpalvelu.ekonomit.fi
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appu Magazines are an inseparable part of Finnish student culture. Almost every university town publishes some kind of humor-filled magazine during Wappu, usually by a local student association. Here in lappeen Ranta, this publication is, of course, Polytekninen Willimiesklubi PoWi ry’s Hässi. For this article, former editors-in-chief of the magazine were interviewed, and it was originally published in a longer version in the 2022 edition of Hässi. Hold on tight and dive into the history and creative process of Hässi!
The history of Hässi dates back to the spring of 1998, just a few months after PoWi was founded. At that time, Lappeenranta was the last student engineering town without its own regularly published Wappu Magazine, and to maintain its reputation as a serious teekkari town, the situation had to be fixed quickly. In the early years, alongside kyykkä, PoWi produced a university recruitment magazine distributed to high schools, and the revenue from this made it possible to publish the first issues of Hässi. At that time, LTKY also published its own student newspaper, Aalef [Aalef was discontinued in the spring of 2016], and several of its editors-in-chief ended up working on Hässi as well—or vice versa.
Even in Aalef, there was a centerfold section called Pahka-Aalef (a reference to the old Finnish humor magazine Pahkasika), which featured small humorous images and texts in a Wappu Magazine style. At the end of 1997, the then-editor-in-chief of Aalef remarked: “We could make a whole issue like this once a year.” And so, Hässi had its first editor-in-chief, who ultimately produced the first three issues. According to him, he wasn’t particularly into teekkari culture, but he was interested in writing, and learning layout design was just a “necessary evil.” Pahkasika and its longer-form humor, rather than oneliner jokes, also served as an inspiration for the first Hässi issues.
The name Hässi was coined by a student activist during a brainstorming evening in a bike cellar. The suggestion beat all other name candidates by a mile, as it was appropriately innocent while still carrying the desired double meaning. The magazine’s logo and several of its first cover illustrations were drawn by Antti Remes, an internationally known artist famous for drawing anthropomorphic animals, furries. Throughout the decades, a fox has been the central character on Hässi’s covers, appearing in various scenarios. The number of pages has increased multiple times over the years. The current 64-page format was reached in 2013, but for example, in 2022, in honor of PoWi and Hässi’s 25th anniversary, the issue had 68 pages, including the cover. The new issue is traditionally released during Wappus start.
There are roughly two ways to become Hässi’s editor-in-chief: either you have experience and passion for magazine production and layout design, or you were simply the worst at saying “no.” After their editor-in-chief years, many former editors ended up working at Aalef’s printing house, the Aalef magazine, or similar fields—sometimes to the point where their technical studies took a back seat due to career opportunities in the printing industry. On the other hand, if someone had no layout experience, the only solution was to grab a mouse, place the keyboard in the other hand, and start learning: “Hässi is a force that brings people together, and people certainly came up with articles and ideas—but no one really knew how to do the layout. When I was chosen as editor-in-chief, I had no experience with a project of this scale, organizing a team, doing layout work, or editing images. With just a few weeks to the deadline, I had no choice but to learn how to design a magazine.”
Group brainstorming sessions have always been the foundation for coming up with articles, images, jokes, and everything else. Hässi has always welcomed anyone interested in participating, and the willingness of non-PoWi members to get involved—whether in idea generation or even photoshoots— has always played a big role in the magazine’s success. The challenge for the editor-in-chief and the editorial team is to turn ideas into fully developed articles. Many funny remarks never grow beyond a single one-liner. Perhaps the hardest part is identifying which joke is worth developing further: “Simple humor is the best. You don’t need to spell everything out—just tell the essentials with a single good image.”
At the end of 2021, a controversy over teekkari culture and its dirty secrets erupted on social media, causing some anxiety among the editorial team: “I started to wonder if our magazine might get us into trouble in some way,” even though the controversy itself was, in the interviewee’s opinion, completely justified. Older issues of Hässi contain a generous dose of crude humor, nudity, and content that would neither be published nor wanted today. Although inappropriate material has often been filtered out in the editing phase, some misjudgments have still occurred:
“I can still read my old issues, even if some jokes went too far. Once in the late 90s, we had a nerve wracking moment when exchange students flipped through the magazine and found a sketch page combining religions with games. They got angry, took a copy of the magazine, and threatened to take the matter further.”
The threat never escalated, but it served as a lesson that something you personally find funny might not work as intended—or make everyone laugh.
The first Hässi was mostly filled with boobs, jokes, and fun activities for Wappu. Over time, the magazine’s content became more article-focused. Current TV shows have often been parodied in Hässi. For example, in 2005, the Mythbusters tested the mystery of yellow snow, whether tongues stick to frozen metal, and the claim that women don’t fart. Perhaps this article played a role in LUT later naming a “real” Mythbuster an honorary doctor.
For readers’ Wappu celebrations, Hässi has provided various activities in the form of board and party games. In 2014, the nationwide favorite game Pomppa took off, leading to the founding of the Akateeminen Pomppaseura. The game has since been featured in various forms in the magazine. Jokes, puns, and especially bad jokes have always been at the heart of Hässi. Even though our magazine has lived through the Skinnarilan Vapaa Valtio era, it still carries the same mischievous twinkle in its eye as in the beginning.
