Creativity in Action: Polytechnical Students' Museum

Looking at the kinds of often bizarre, usually amusing, frequently irritating shenanigans students are (in-)famous for, the reputation of care-free youth enjoying life to the fullest surely seems to be well earned. But wait, didn’t the community also build a campus from scratch, give inspiring lessons in every Finnish school, raise funds to send out an Olympic team, transform everyday life to be safer for a pandemic overnight, and create a vibrant community that’s been going strong for a couple of centuries, to point out a few examples that seem counterintuitive to the happy-go-lucky vibe?

The Aalto community hosts the world’s best (and only) volunteer-run museum of student culture. Much like this exhibition, our aim is to document, preserve and present all the fantastic things that happen right outside the lecture halls. During our sixty-odd years of operation, we’ve gathered - and told - innumerable stories of student life and what it means to be a part of this unique extended family. Scattered throughout these slices of history are a few lessons:

First, that one should always be earnest, but never needlessly serious. Second, that doing what’s right and doing what’s fun don’t need to be mutually exclusive. And third, when armed with an unshakeable community, a healthy dose of disregard for convention, and a vision of how the world might be a better place, your only limit is your imagination. 

Rasmus Ruohola.

Assistant, The Polytechnical Students’ Museum