let us present you with the first ever board of osa: This magnificent committee started osa from scratch!
Chairperson: Alexandra Biris
Alexandra is a Changing Education master’s student. Her experience of the education systems in Romania, Finland, and the Netherlands have had a profound impact on her passion for education. Her main research interests are the politics of education and how education can promote or undermine peace and democracy, topics that combine her background in political science and international development studies.
alexandra.biris[at]helsinki.fi
Vice-chairperson and member for the environment: MIHAELA NYYSSÖNEN
With an academic background in early childhood education and social services, Mihaela is currently a student in the Changing Education master’s programme. She believes everyone has the potential to become an educational game-changer when they are in the right environment.
mihaela.nyyssonen[at]helsinki.fi
Secretary and member for equality: Anita Mezza
Handwritten letter enthusiast and avid museum-goer, Anita is interested in policy and educational philosophy. She’s excited to learn about learning from the level of neurons to societal dynamics, but you’ll most often find her talking about sex education. Her dream is to use the power of education to interfere with the perpetuation of structural inequalities.
Treasurer: Natalia Stalchenko
Natalia is a master’s student in the Changing Education programme and a research assistant at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki. She specializes in early childhood education and has experience working in the field in Finland. Her main goal is to promote children’s well-being and healthy development through education and to contribute to implementing research-based theory into practice.
natalia.stalchenko[at]helsinki.fi
Events Manager: Zoi Vasileiou
With a background in early childhood education and more than ten years of work experience in the field, Zoi is currently a master’s student in the Changing Education programme. Her aim has always been to provide children with the essential tools for personal, emotional, and social development and for reaching their full potential. She believes that the best way to dream about the future is to be involved in making it.
zoi.vasileiou[at]helsinki.fi
Social Media Manager: Inka TÄHKÄ
Inka is a master’s student in the Changing Education programme. She has a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Helsinki, and has worked for several years in kindergartens and preschools in Finland, experiencing the many advantages and challenges of ECEC. She is passionate about gender issues and gender identity, social justice, and the role of education in social change.
inka.tahka[at]helsinki.fi
Students’ Advocate: Susana Molina Bustamante
Susana is a nature lover who studied Primary School Teacher Education and Special Education. She’s also a scout though we don’t know what came first in that mix. She is now a student in the Changing Education programme, where she’s trying to understand how education has been designed throughout human history, being institutionalized in the last two centuries, and also looking for the best outline of how education might become the tool to make the best of our natural potential. She looks for explanations almost everywhere so you may find her reading or running on her own, but also talking and going out with friends and, mainly, asking several questions. She believes that changing education starts by being able to change our own beliefs, thoughts or knowledge.
susana.molinabustamante[at]helsinki.fi