Bombs, DISCs, games, arts and crafts, fun and games...just a normal Friday afternoon.

JAMKO's office is comprised of 14 very unique, but also very different people. To work in the office in a way that that we all understand each other and work smoothly together, takes a little time and effort from all of us. This is especially true at this time of the year when almost half the people have changed with the new board. That's why we spent the entire afternoon yesterday in training together, doing group exercises and, basically, getting to know one another. 

Miika Toivanen, former JAMKO chairman,  explaining DISC.

So what happened? Chaos! Well, not really, but close. The day started with one of the former JAMKO Chairs (in 2008) training us all in DISC assessment. This is basically a personality assessment tool based on four types of trait categories: dominance, inducement, submission and compliance (if you need to know more, google it). During the exercise we analysed ourselves and each other based on the four categories. It was a good exercise because it really taught us more about each other and our ways of working. It helped e to understand what are the best ways of approaching the members of JAMKO team.

After the official training, we got to play games! Yay! Our tutor and sports secretary is a pure jewel when it comes to being goofy and making people relax. We played painters and supermodels, used fruit to describe ourselves, built towers from paper, and defused a BOMB! The story was that terrorists had decided to hit the school with a bomb and it was up to the JAMKO Bomb Squad to defuse it and save the day. Half the team was also suffering from some chemical weapons because they were blind and incapable of speaking. To JAMKO's credit, they managed to defuse the bomb without the entire school exploding.

Trying very hard to understand DISC.

Tomorrow we will be heading to the start of the year seminar "Lähtölaukaus" by the Unions of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK) where the entire JAMKO office will be trained in everything possible going on in Finland as a whole in terms of student issues and politics. It will be an early start so I will leave you for now and will write again either from the train tomorrow or once we are there.

Defusing a bomb. Clearly.

-Reeta