In January, HAMKO’s year started with an orientation by the board, and after that we got down to business, ready to serve students and ensure that their interests are taken care of.
What has HAMKO done so far this year during spring semester? Well, anything and even more! We’ve compiled the highlights from this year here, so you can read about what kind of things we’ve been doing.
Representation and HAMK influence
- We participated in the national UAS Days on 7-8 May 2025 in Helsinki
- We have been involved in the working group that put out a tender for a restaurant service provider and we have been involved in the Compass Group initiative.
- We participated in the International Student Community working group, which has met 3 times
- We participated in the DBE – Student Experiences working group, which has had 3 meetings
- The Chair of the Board is a member of the HAMK Management Group, which meets once a month, meaning we have participated there 5 times.
- The DEIA working group met 2 times. DEIA is an acronym for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility.
- We participated in the Quality Management Development Group 2 times.
- The Sustainable HAMK group also met 2 times.
- We participated in the Security and Preparedness Team 2 times.
- The Accessibility Network is a network operating at HAMK, which includes HAMK employees and HAMKO employee whose work includes accessibility and equality issues. This group has met twice.
- We participated in the project team that is making rules of order for HAMK.
Societal influence and advocacy
- We have communicated about regional and municipal elections.
- We took a stand on the government’s mid-term election training cuts
- Several of our operators have trained as harassment contact persons.
- We have helped students in various problematic situations.
- We have submitted student feedback to HAMK
- We have been involved in making rules of order for HAMK
- We elected a project group consisting of members of the representative council and one HAMKO employee to work on updating the student union’s political program. The representative council will approve the new political program once it is completed.
Administration
- The Central Election Committee has organized the by-elections of the House of Representatives, which were supposed to be held twice this year.
- The Board has met 9 times.
- The Representative Council has had 3 meetings.
- The financial statements have been completed.
- We have been preparing a digital meal subsidy card for HAMK students.
- We have met with the management of HAMK and had comprehensive discussions on current issues, such as the city center campuses
Member benefits and services
- We started a recycling project for old overalls.
- Our partner Timetravels organized student trips to Lapland and Lofoten.
- Ordering and distributing student cards.
- Service, help and support with Slice and student cards.
- Overalls procurement project started, and new overalls will be on sale in the autumn.
Training and collaborations
- The board, the presidium of the representative council and the employees started the year in January with the working weekend in Evo, where the spring activities were planned.
- Participated in SAMOK’s Kick-off Cruise. Kick-off Cruise is a training and networking cruise for student unions and stakeholders.
- Organized 2 partner association days, to which all student associations operating at HAMK, which are our partner associations, were invited.
- Have maintained contact and collaborated with student associations.
- Organized an orientation for WWF. WWF is a network of student unions called Wide West Finland, which includes, in addition to HAMKO, COPSA, JAMKO, SAMMAKKO, SAMOK, Tamko, TUO and VAMOK.
- We have negotiated cooperation agreements and continued several long-term partnerships
- The personnel participated in joint training and networking days for employees of student unions.
- We were at the “Kesäevakko”, our annual get-away weekend in a cottage environment, where we planned for the autumns and talked about, among other things, member marketing.
- The board trained at the lobbying evening school.
Events
- Organized HPK Appro, Overall Day and Loppurysäys.
- Organized Hämeenlinna Appro in co-operation with HIOP ry and HÄTÄ ry.
- Have started preparations for the Alkupamaus in September
- Organized the capping ceremony and May Day festivities of the Sibelius statue in Hämeenlinna in cooperation with HIOP ry, HÄPI ry and HÄTÄ ry.
- Recruited and trained the event team.
Tutoring
- Organized a joint day for mentors and tutors in January
- Recruited and interviewed tutor applicants.
- The first part of the tutor training has been organized.
- We reformed the tutor training to better meet the needs of future tutors.
Communication and visibility
- Monthly newsletters have been sent to students 5 times, and these have included current information.
- We collected proposals for the Teacher of the Year competition and HAMK Person of the Year.
- We organized the HAMKO on The Road (HOTR) campus tour, where we had stand-ins on all campuses.
- We communicated and marketed HAMKO’s activities and events on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Viva Engage.
- The board, the presidium of the representative council and employees introduced themselves on social media.
- We held HAMKO information sessions for students who started in January.
Quite a lot has been done and achieved during the spring semester! This is not even everything that has been done, there are a lot of different things and projects happening in the student union each semester.
We will be taking a summer break from Midsummer, and we will return to the new academic year in August! If you have any questions during the summer break, the chair of the board, Juno, will respond to your HAMKO email during that time. Please note that there may be a slight delay in responding, as the email is monitored in addition to Juno’s summer work. From the beginning of August, our entire team will be here to help you again!