Aava, i.e. the community committee of the Aalto University Student Union creates and nurtures Aalto culture. Aava’s goal is to bring all of Aalto’s students together and facilitate the joy of doing things together and great experiences for all of us Aalto people, irrespective of field of study.
Aava develops the Aalto community by conceiving and carrying out a variety of events, ranging from volleyball tournaments to zombie LARP events and from huge parties to laid-back movie marathons. Each Aava member has their own area of responsibility, but in addition, the department actively carries out common projects and forms a close-knit group. In Aava, ideas are made into reality and there is no lack of action!
Annually occurring events of Aava are, for example, the Aalto Afterparty of the opening ceremony of the academic year and its after-events, the summer volleyball tournament HelleAalto and the whole of Aalto’s common Wappu opener WappuAalto! In addition, Aava does something new every year too.
Committees
Five committees currently operate under the auspice of Aava, of which two are assembly committees equivalent to special status associations and three put together to arrange events separately. In addition to this, Aava brings together the sports tutors of Aalto under its wing.
The Sports Committee
The LTMK is another of the committees under Aava for which there is no separate application process, but instead the Committee consists of those in charge of sports in the special status associations. Indeed, the most important task of the Committee is to support the people in charge of sports in their work and to facilitate sports co-operation across association boundaries. In addition to this, the LTMK annually arranges a few sports events that cover all of Aalto, for example the Akateeminen Wartti (Academic Quarter) and the Battle for the Domination of Otaniemi.
The Communications Committee
The Communications Committee, otherwise known as VTMK, brings together the spokespeople and people responsible for communications of special status associations and the editors of guild and association publications. The most important task of the Communications Committee is to act as a source of peer support and communications channel for the people in charge of communications in different bodies. On top of this, the VTMK arranges smaller events together such as photoshoots and image processing training sessions.
The Annual Ball Committee
The Annual Ball Committee (VujuTMK) is responsible for planning and realising the Annual Ball of the AYY and the co-ordination of the anniversary week. The annual ball includes a cocktail event, the main ball, the afterparties, after-after parties and the anniversary brunch. VujuTMK conceptualises the anniversary celebrations together and the tasks of its members vary from communications and graphic design to the generation of ideas for the programme and corporate relations. The Chair of the VujuTMK sits on the Board of Aava and the rest of Aava acts as workers at the anniversary or brunch. The anniversary celebrations of the AYY are held in May on a Saturday near the Flower Day.
The Aalto Afterparty Committee
The Aalto Afterparty is one of the biggest events of the year and at the same time the first experience new students have of the party culture of the Aalto University. As its name implies, the Afterparty is held as a follow-up to the Aalto Party in the first week of the academic year. Around ten members are recruited every year to the Afterparty Committee, who plan and realise the event. The tasks on the Committee are allocated in accordance with the strengths and interests of the members and may be to do with, for example, marketing, technology or workers. The Committee is led with joint responsibility by the Celebrantti and Bilefantti of Aava and is recruited annually in March-April.
The Humans vs. Zombies Committee
Humans vs. Zombies is a kind of moderated game of tag in which zombie players try to spread the contagion by grabbing human players who try to protect themselves in different ways. The game is held in Otaniemi twice a year, in the spring and the autumn. The Humans vs. Zombies Committee plans and schedules the game, carries out the necessary preparations and marketing and of course runs the game. Anyone can apply to be on the Committee, regardless of year of studies or game experience, and there is a diverse range of tasks from marketing and script-writing to directing the game. The Committee is put together in the spring in February-March and the same Committee realises both the games.
Sports Tutoring
In addition to committees, Aava brings together the sports tutors of Aalto under its wing. Sports tutors are tutors (or other older students) who are interested in sports and organise sports programmes for first-year students alongside or in addition to their tutoring duties. Aava’s person in charge of sports tutors recruits and trains the sports tutors, as well as making sure that the sports tutors have sufficient assistance and support for doing sports with first-year students. Sports tutors are recruited in spring in conjunction with other tutor recruitment processes.