Alumni inspire news students in Flemingsberg
Making students feel that they are in the right place and that there is a reasonable chance for them to complete the education – how is this best achieved? For about ten years, Flemingsberg has been organising an inspiration day for new students. Inspiration, motivation, and a chance to socialise with other students – this is the recipe, according to Anders Cajander.
Anders Cajander is a university lecturer and head of division who teaches several courses at the Flemingsberg campus. Together with GA Mats Nilsson, Deputy Head of School Sebastiaan Meijer, and the programme directors in Flemingsberg, he is responsible for the planning and financing of the Inspiration Day, which took place this year on August 28th.
"If this leads to even one more student completing their studies, we have gained more than it cost," says Anders Cajander.
The message during the day is clear. No one is downplaying the amount of hard work required to graduate from KTH. But you don't have to be superhuman – if the students have the motivation and are determined to succeed, they will. And for those students who didn’t get into their first-choice programme, Mats had reassuring words: "Regardless of the programme you’re in, we’re training you to be problem solvers."
KTH Alumni Inspire
Meeting KTH alumni is an important part of the inspiration. This year, students in the Computer Enegineering programme met Lars Ershammar from Google, Ellinor Sjöström from PwC, and Johan Gustafsson from game developer King. Their varied careers really show the breadth of opportunities awaiting students after graduation. It wasn’t many years ago that Johan and Ellinor graduated, and as Johan noted after his lecture: "It’s hard to believe I was sitting in this same hall listening to a similar motivational talk just five years ago!"
Both Lars and Ellinor emphasized the virtue of daring to fail. Lars recounted a blunder at his first job where he accidentally disrupted a large chunk of Iceland's text messaging service. Nevertheless, that hiccup didn’t deter him from landing a job at Google. Indeed, we learn from our mistakes.
Ellinor spoke about her journey from physiotherapist via KTH to an exciting job in IT security and digital forensics at PwC. Failing her first programming exam only spurred her on to work harder. On the next test, she scored an 'A'.
"Juggling Many Balls"
Following the lectures, all the students proceeded, led by the Student Union, to Fleminghallen. Here they practised juggling, literally, as a professional juggler taught them the art.
"This is a playful end to the day, but it has a serious undertone," Anders remarks.
"Of course, the juggling is metaphorical for having to manage multiple tasks as a KTH student. It also offers a casual setting for social interaction. More than one student revealed hidden skills, encouraging peer conversations like, 'How did you manage that?' or 'Can you show me?' This creates a natural space for socialisation."
It is important to realise that one has to invest a lot of time in KTH studies. But it's also important to be part of a community and to have fun occasionally. Otherwise, you can't sustain it. Or as Lars Ershammar jokingly concluded his lecture:
"You can re-take exams. But you can’t re-take a party.”
Text: Åsa Karsberg