Annual Report 2025

Introduction

2025 marked the 38th year of operations for Serveri ry. At the heart of Serveri's activities this year was the comprehensive development and improvement of the association's functions, as well as the integration of new practices into the board's operations. Key themes included numerous events—such as the Eurovision Sitsit and the ensuing party—responsible financial management and its development, and the relaunch of alumni activities. Advocacy topics featured the highly discussed campus development, where we sought to ensure the interests of the Department of Computer Science’s students and staff were prioritized. Additionally, discussions were held regarding tutoring and its coordination with the student organization’s activities. The board actively participated in all LUMET meetings, bringing our perspective to the table and discussing mutual concerns.

At the beginning of the year, the board held its first internal meeting, going through a long list of key issues for the upcoming year to ensure the smoothest possible teamwork among members. The agenda included creating an interdisciplinary ticket sales group on Telegram to prevent scams, establishing an English-language discussion group aimed at international students, planning the first Eurovision party, and refurbishing "Koppi" (the guild room).

The statutory Spring Meeting was supposed to be held in February as required by the rules, but due to a delay in delivering documents to the performance auditors, the meeting had to be postponed to March. The meeting was ultimately conducted smoothly and swiftly, and the 2024 board was granted discharge from liability.

We traveled to the ATK-YTP event in Tampere via joint transport with Skripti to keep travel costs moderate, and we nearly sold out our allocated seats. Cooperation with our sister organization also flourished at Tahko with a joint excursion.

At the Autumn Meeting, we continued the revamped application process introduced by the previous board, where those interested in board activities were encouraged to apply in advance via a form. This streamlined the meeting and the formation of the new board. This approach proved effective once again, and we highly recommend it as a permanent practice for the future. The Autumn Meeting successfully formed a full 16-person board, which included several freshmen who joined after diligent advertising.

Early in the year, Serveri’s Koppi was thoroughly cleaned and reorganized by the board and volunteers, with large quantities of excess items and trash removed.

The Board

In 2025, the board consisted of 14 members, three of whom were deputy members.

Board Composition in 2025:

• Eemeli Väre – Chairperson
• Miska Halonen – Vice Chairperson
• Susanna Malmelin – Secretary
• Leevi Leppänen – Treasurer
• Maija Huovinen – Communications and Material Coordinator
• Janne Kuohula – Corporate Relations Coordinator
• Cristian Krühn – Event Coordinator
• Oliver Perko – Event Coordinator
• Dmytro Shapovalov – Freshman, International (KV), and Tutor Coordinator
• Ville Miettinen – Sports Coordinator
• Olli Tirkkonen – Advocacy Coordinator
• Miika Turja – Deputy Member (IT/Maintenance Coordinator)
• Luukas Laitinen – Deputy Member
• Peetu Hurskainen – Deputy Member

The board held a total of ten meetings in 2025, in addition to organizing the association's statutory spring and autumn meetings. A new permanent addition to the board meeting agendas was a section on corporate relations, which helped bring current partnership matters to everyone's attention more effectively. Board members attended the Student Union's (ISYY) organization training in February and were also oriented to their roles by their predecessors.

Representation Outside the Board

The chairpersons attended all Chairpersons' Council meetings throughout the year, as well as all of the faculty's LUMET meetings. Serveri was also represented at numerous annual balls in Kuopio, maintaining good relations with other student organizations. Furthermore, Serveri participated in the TiTOL general assembly held during the ATK-YTP event.

Communications and IT Maintenance

Communication was centralized on our familiar Telegram announcement channel, as well as Instagram posts and stories. Events were announced in advance with "Save the Date" posts, and detailed event information was always shared two weeks prior. Save the Date announcements were also forwarded to the department's info screens to increase their visibility. All communication was also done in English to ensure international students could take part in our activities.

Event details were also published on the website. Toward the end of the year, the board's cloud server and the website were consolidated onto the same server by the IT committee, lowering the overall monthly server costs.

Advocacy

In educational policy, advocacy included collecting feedback on courses and teaching. There was plenty of feedback to gather, as many courses had completely changed due to the end of the University of Applied Sciences (AMK) collaboration. During campus development meetings, we actively advocated for and highlighted the CS department's perspective, particularly regarding the placement of the student organization room and the department itself.

Individual social policy matters were discussed together, and satisfactory outcomes were reached for all parties involved in the issues handled; overall, it was a good year in this regard. A harassment contact person was always present at events and could be approached with a low threshold.

Tutoring

The board assisted the CS department in selecting tutors. Serveri worked closely with the tutors in the autumn, especially during August and September, aiming for the smoothest possible freshman week and the successful integration of freshmen into the organization's activities. The freshman pass (fuksipassi) was digital again this year, and its developers were extremely quick with bug fixes and development work.

Events

Throughout the year, Serveri organized a wide variety of events and strengthened its position in the interdisciplinary event scene. The highly popular Eurovision Sitsit were now followed by a themed after-party: the Interdisciplinary Eurovision Party. Organizing the party went smoothly, even though there was practically no prior experience with a similar event. The traditional Tahko excursion was organized this time in collaboration with Skripti, with support from the department.

In 2025, Serveri organized the following events:

January

• Jan 14: Innofactor Corporate Excursion
• Jan 27: Overall Baptisms (Haalarikastajaiset)
• Jan 29: BBQ Season Opening

February

• Feb 13: Valentine's Day Meme Sitsit (Serveri x Retikka)
• Feb 14: Valentine's Mario Kart Tournament at Koppi
• Feb 18: International Hangout (Serveri x Retikka x Hyeena x Kvantti)
• Feb 25: Ice Swimming Tryout (Serveri x Socius)

March

• Mar 3: Statutory Spring Meeting
• Mar 5: Disney Sitsit vol. 4 (Serveri x Fortis)
• Mar 12: Video Game Sitsit (Serveri x Fa-Gots)
• Mar 21–23: Tahko Excursion (Serveri x Skripti)
• Mar 27: Gradet (Serveri x Hyeena x Kvantti x Kulti)

April

• Apr 8: Alumni Billiards
• Apr 13–14: May Day Drinks from Estonia Cruise (VappuViinatVirosta-risteily)
• Apr 22: Eurovision Sitsit & Eurovision Party
• Apr 24: Speakeasy Tour (Salakapakkakierros)
• Apr 25: Wabu Picnic (Serveri x Socius)
• Apr 29: Savo-Karelia Serveri Bus
• Apr 30: WabuDeBug
• May 1: Muikkis & Interdisciplinary May Day Picnic

May

• May 14: Mead-frosted Mead-friend Sitsit with a Mead-twist and Friends (Serveri x Kvantti)

(August–)September

• Aug 31: Pre-semester Party (Suojakännit)
• Sep 1: Intro BBQs
• Sep 2: TEK Intro Saunas
• Sep 3: Game Night
• Sep 7: Freshman Picnic
• Sep 11: Vuorilampi Excursion
• Sep 25: Freshman Sitsit

October

• Oct 1: Freshman Baptisms/Initiation (Kastajaiset)
• Oct 15–17: ATK-YTP Tampere
• Oct 29: Freshman Revenge Party (Kostajaiset)

November

• Nov 4: Sensire Corporate Excursion (Serveri x Skripti)
• Nov 5: Open Board Meeting for Members
• Nov 6: Board Game Night (Serveri x Kulti x Retikka x Terho x Kärmes)
• Nov 11: Get to Know Board Activities Evening
• Nov 17: Statutory Autumn Meeting
• Nov 20: IT-rekry (IT Recruitment Fair)
• Nov 27: Megazone Tryout (Serveri x Socius)

December

• Dec 8: JouluBugi (Christmas Bug Party)
• Dec 11: Interdisciplinary Mulled-Wine Frosted Christmas Friend Sitsit vol. 2 (Serveri x Kvantti)

Sports

Serveri had a shared sports shift with Socius, Kvantti, and Hyeena, which was advertised to the members. Sports tryouts were organized for ice swimming and Megazone together with Socius.

Fundraising and Finances

Throughout the year, the board strove to keep extra costs under control and started accumulating funds for the annual ball to be held in 2027. The financial statement showed a substantial surplus, thanks to excellently managed corporate relations, diligent product sales, and moderate expenses.

Corporate Relations

Corporate relations were exceptionally successful once again in 2025, resulting in numerous partnerships. In addition to renewing contracts with old partners, we secured several new sponsors, and the new student overalls (haalarit) achieved a great look thanks to the many sponsor logos. The corporate relations brochure was updated, and the prices and services of partnership packages were adjusted to align with the pricing and services of similar organizations. The IT-rekry fair attracted plenty of companies from the field to present their business operations, as well as internships and job opportunities aimed specifically at students.

Materials

In 2025, the look of the overalls was updated, and we returned to our previous vendor, Opiskelijahaalarit, due to bad experiences regarding quality in previous years. We also moved the zippers on the overalls to more practical locations, modified a few features to better serve the users, and removed some features to make the overalls more affordable.

Serveri continued the previous board's project of ordering a new organization pennant (viiri) featuring the new logo. We initially received a pennant with the wrong logo, after which we were provided with the correct one free of charge. A new batch of 50 tote bags in beige and black was ordered, which initially arrived with an incorrect logo. However, we negotiated with the manufacturer to receive a new batch of correct bags as compensation without any extra costs.

Late in the year, Serveri also organized a merch order after a long break, allowing members to order a diverse range of items with the organization’s logo. Options included t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies (in regular and oversized fits) in multiple colors, as well as a new product: shirts featuring the "smoking server" (röökiserveri) logo. Both the merch and the tote bags were ordered from our familiar supplier, Kloga.

Towards the end of the year, an overall patch (haalarimerkki) design contest was held, drawing a higher-than-expected number of participants from the members. Three winners were selected, and the patches were ordered.

Alumni Activities

Serveri's alumni association, ServeriAlumnit ry, restarted its operations at the beginning of 2025 after a hiatus of a few years and immediately initiated contact with Serveri's board. Early in the year, the Corporate Relations Coordinator and the Chairperson met with the alumni association's board and observed the formation of their new board, re-establishing cooperation after the break. One joint event was successfully organized with the alumni, and the alumni association also got its logo on the new overalls, creating a strong foundation for future collaboration.