Application for DSDeputy '26

[Bristlefrost]

G’day! My name is Bris Nevalainen and with this application I’d like to announce my candidacy for the position of DSDeputy for the year 2026. I’m a first-year student coming from the brand-new Computer Engineering major (but in practice I’m a DSD fuksi when looking at guild activities since I only actively participate in AS and especially DSD happenings in spite of my major differing slightly). I’m likely one of the most active fuksis in AS at the moment and would therefore be passionate to get even more involved in the guild by inheriting this wonderful and important role from Nimrod and continuing his work.

I’ve been very active in the guild ever since I joined (working hard towards that hyperfuksi title) and have been looking for an opportunity to get involved in the guild in some role. At first I attempted to apply for vice-chair but was unsuccessful. Ever since, I’ve been thinking of becoming DSDeputy more and more, especially after talking to Nimrod about it a few times.

DSDeputy feels like the perfect role for me in the guild because I’m a native English speaker (though as a bonus I can also speak and understand Finnish as my second language quite well if need be) and it’s an English-speaking role. I already know many of the DSD people that are active here and greatly enjoy the international events so organising them myself next year would be a logical next step for me. I recently joined the Liukuhihna fuksi party organisers so event organisation certainly is my passion and wouldn’t be completely new to me in the role. It’d also be a suitable role for me since I would already like to take some responsibility in my fuksi year and DSDeputy seems like an excellent choice for a first position that isn’t as unrealistic as the board that I already tried to apply for.

I’d work closely with the next captains of the guild to make the '26 DSD fuksis feel right at home and integrate in AS from the orientation week program to various events throughout the year, including sitsis and more chill events like the DSD evenings for those that don’t like to drink/prefer more chill events. There should be a wide variety of events so that there would be something for everyone.

In addition, I’ve loved all of the ETCo events that I’ve been to thus far and know how important and fun it is for people to get to hang out with their friends from the other English bachelor’s majors as well. Getting to represent AS in ETCo and throw fun parties for all of the English bachelor’s students collectively is another reason I’d like to become DSDeputy specifically.

TL;DR
Who? Bris Nevalainen (tg: @violetshines)
What? DSDictator II, the DSDistinguished DSDeputy of 2026
Why? Fun for the DSD students of the guild

Some pictures of me in glorious purple overalls to show how much I love all kinds of events:

Me at the ETCo sitsis on 3 October ^

And hiking with the internationals of this guild on the 19th ^

[kctong529]

Hey Bris, good to see you here

As you mentioned, you’re probably the first (and maybe still the only) Computer Engineering fuksi actively involved in AS. That puts you in a really interesting position between a brand-new major and a well-established guild culture. How do you see that shaping your own perspective within the community?

Would you make a conscious effort to encourage more Computer Engineering students to take part in AS activities, and if so, how would you go about bridging that gap — whether through joint events, personal outreach, or by showing what makes AS such a welcoming home even for students outside DSD?

And naturally, since you’re also a SIK member by default (which tends to be a bit underrepresented in most English events), do you think you could make use of that connection to help bring our guilds closer together?

[Bristlefrost]

Hello Ki Chun! I would’ve replied a little earlier but we were having a lot of fun playing games in ASki quite late into the night with me, another fuksi, Nimrod, Milja, and a few others there. At least now I can say from experience that it was a fun little impromptu event and I’d deffo try to get a better planned version of that as DSDeputy if there’s interest so that more people could join. Would’ve been even more fun to have more people there playing and chilling with us.

Now that I’ve included that idea in my application, onto the questions.

I agree that my position is really interesting as someone whose major is completely new. My perspective is that I didn’t really find the guild culture strange or foreign at all (not in AS at least). I’ve mostly spent time with DSD students even though I study Computer Engineering myself because CENG and DSD are fairly similar majors and have plenty of courses in common. And the DSD students already had an established guild culture here in AS that I easily got into and have enjoyed greatly. I don’t feel like an outsider here in spite of my major being brand-new. SIK meanwhile didn’t have an established English-speaking culture (will probably have in a few years once it develops though but I wanted to get into an active guild culture already in my first year) so I felt like DSD was the closest one to my major that had an already-established guild culture that I could get into so I became active in AS instead.

I have to admit that even though yes, I’m a member of SIK by default since it’s the Computer Engineering guild, I haven’t actually participated in any SIK events nor have I visited the SIK guild room a single time since I joined AS. I’ve been busy with trying to participate in AS as much as possible to fill in my AS point card all the way to the titles of Superfuksi and Hyperfuksi and get to know as many people from AS as possible and also because I enjoy the AS guild culture as I mentioned. So I have the SIK membership but haven’t actively used it in a while due to AS feeling more like a home guild to me. I therefore don’t have a lot of outreach in SIK as I’m rarely active there. However, I do still have a few friends from SIK.

Nevertheless, I think that there should be more joint events between AS and SIK and I could still help organise them as DSDeputy, especially joint DSD-CENG events. I already mentioned that DSD and CENG have many similarities as majors so it would make a lot of sense for the two majors to be closer with respect to student culture as well. I’ve heard from my SIK friends that around the same time that the DSDeputy for '26 is chosen here, in SIK they will choose someone for what’s essentially the SIK version of DSDeputy titled the Computer Engineering Officer or CEO for short. As DSDeputy I’d definitely reach out to whoever the CEO ends up being (could be one of my friends but I’m not sure who they will pick yet) and inquire about the possibility of joint events. I’ve already participated in a few guild collaboration events like the ELEC collaboration event and the TiK-AS Apartment Appro and I’ve found all of them fun so I see no reason why there shouldn’t be something SIK-AS as well, especially DSD-CENG. It would encourage more CENG students to engage with AS and bring the guilds closer together.

[bia_glaser]

Hey Bris!

First of all, congratulations on your application!! It’s always really nice to see people interested in continuing to develop the DSD community within the guild

As a first-generation DSDeputy, I’d like to share a bit of background on what this position was originally created for and then ask a few questions to hear your thoughts.

When the DSDeputy role was first proposed three generations ago, the idea behind it was:

• to promote a DSD culture that continues past the fuksi year. We noticed that many DSD students lost their sense of belonging after the first year, and the older DSD community gradually faded away.

• to help integrate DSD students into the AS Guild and bridge the gap between Finnish and international students.

• to serve as a voice within the guild for DSD students — especially regarding study-related topics and inclusion in guild life.

With that in mind, I’d love to hear your perspective on a few things:
As a fuksi, do you have any ideas or plans on how you’d help promote the DSD community among older DSD generations?
Since you’re not a DSD student yourself, how do you think you could still represent and be a voice for DSD students — particularly when it comes to study-related matters or DSD-specific traditions/culture?
How do you currently see the Finnish–international integration within the guild? How would you promote it further, and how would you help international students get familiar with the teekkari way of life?

Really happy to see your enthusiasm for the role, and I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas!

[Bristlefrost]

Hello Beatriz!

I’m glad you’ve asked me these questions and I’m happy to answer them.

1. This is something that I’ve already noticed in the guild - there are not as many older DSD students at DSD events and it’s certainly something that could be improved. For example I’ve seen some events be advertised to older students of the guild specifically - like this:
   
   

   
   
   
   There should also be an event that is promoted to older DSD students specifically around the time that they continue into their second or third year in a similar way to make sure that they don’t feel left out of the guild and the DSD community after starting their second or third year of studies and have an easier time getting back to student life.

2. Yes, I’m not a DSD major student myself but I don’t expect it to negatively impact my work as DSDeputy. Even though my major differs slightly from the DSD students, we still share many courses in common especially in the first year. As for the later years, I was, by some Sisu magic, able to fit DSD-specific courses into my personal study plan in the electives slot and it’s what I’m planning on doing since frequently interacting with DSD students has made me very interested in DSD, even to the point of at times regretting not putting DSD above CENG in my Aalto application in January. I’ve considered switching majors a few times but unfortunately it isn’t very straightforward as it would require extensive paperwork, a competitive GPA, and at least 55 credits in DSD courses already completed. Although on paper I’m a CENG fuksi at least for the time being, I still consider myself to be a DSD fuksi de facto as far as guild activities are concerned since I’m a fuksi of AS instead of SIK and I’m only active in AS and spend most of my time with DSD students in addition to having DSD-specific courses planned in Sisu alongside CENG. I actually know AS and the culture we have here much better than any other guild and have already actively participated in DSD & AS international events. I therefore think I could and would be a strong voice for DSD students – I’m already part of their community (more strongly than any other student community at Aalto I feel like) in every regard save for some lectures and exercise sessions.

3. The current state of the Finnish-international integration within the guild is great I feel like. I have to admit though, it’s a little difficult for me to judge since I do also understand Finnish to a very large extent and speak it fairly well in addition to English and as such have also spent time with Finnish speakers in the guild without any major communication difficulties. However, I do still prefer to speak English as it’s my main language and I haven’t yet met anyone in the guild who hasn’t tried their best to accommodate me. And I’ve met both DSD and non-DSD aASis at events. But I also have experience of events that I feel like are still more divided. For instance, I’ve been trying to sign up for the Kimble tournament on the 10th for a while now with a DSD team to represent the DSD side of the guild at the event but it has been difficult to say the least to find people willing to participate. From what I’ve been told in my case it’s not about language barriers and more about how international students are less enthusiastic about drinking games, hich AS-Kimble definitely is, compared to Finns. It’s fine – everyone has their own preferences regarding events. So long as I organise a variety of events that appeal to people with different event preferences and also try to organise DSD representation at the more Finnish events (I did eventually manage to form a DSDTeam for the Kimble tournamnt, yippee!) I think it would promote the integration of the DSD students into our guild and get them familiarised with the vibrant teekkari culture that we have.

Thank you again for asking me these questions! I’m happy to get a chance to brainstorm ideas for making DSD an even more integral part of this guild!

[Nimrod_Pocsveiler]

Hi Bris! Since the more critical questions have already been asked (and answered by you) I’ll keep this shorter and more lörs.

1. Living up the DSDeputy’s of our past, how much do you think you would throw up during your term as DSDeputy? How much of this would be from you drinking? How much of it would be from you eating too much and clocking a Vichy on top? How would this affect the total amount of vomit you will have to clean?
2. How would you gaslight (convince) as many DSD Fuksis to go Otacruise as possible next year? What would you tell them about it now that you have been to one yourself?
3. Given that ASKi is soo far away, what is the optimal way to return Roopertti (the AS JBL speaker) after an event at like 1 AM? What if no one stayed to help?

Thanks for taking the time to answer these super SERIOUS questions, and goodluck!

[Bristlefrost]

Thank you Nimrod for asking these very important questions after the experience that was my first Otacruise and giving me an opportunity to reflect on how AWESOME that trip was and how much I’d love to do it again, hopefully as DSDeputy with the '26 DSD fuksis!

1. Given that I’ve already underestimated myself and said I would never throw up at student events and then doing so anyway on Otacruise, my revised best estimate is that I would throw up a fair bit (probably mostly on Otacruise though). It would absolutely be a combination of both like it was on Otacruise on Sunday. Reflecting on the trip, I doubt it was just seasickness since I didn’t get seasick at all on the return leg of the journey even though I mixed the seasickness pill from the info desk with alcohol against their advice. On the way to Stockholm I ate a huuugeee plate of buffet food + dessert and on top of that mixed Coca-Cola with white wine and drank it. And then started drinking more alcohol almost immediately after that. It must’ve been that combination that made me vomit four times that evening. The fact that it was a combination of alcohol and eating too much did increase the amount of vomit I had to clean from my cabin’s bathroom since all of that delicious buffet food ended up clogging the sink where I threw up.

2. I loved Otacruise so much that next year my goal is to get to enjoy it with the '26 DSD fuksis as DSDeputy and convert them to Otacruise lovers as well. Who wouldn’t love to hear from their DSDeputy about an opportunity to go on a fun adventure with them that includes exploring a new city, unlocking rarer Swedish overall patches, and so much entertainment and fun on the way and back from there from the spa to shopping without the taxman charging high taxes and from the organised program in Starlight to chaotic cabin parties all packed into two nights. Next year I might get (un)lucky enough to end up in the queue with the DSD fuksis for A or Promenade class tickets, which I would want for throwing a cabin party in my cabin for the DSD Otacruisers if I become DSDeputy, so the fun would already start there as I’ve heard from the people that had to queue this year that the queue is a fun experience in its own right.

3. This is an interesting problem. I assume I’m trying to return it from Rantasauna, which is even further away from ASki than my JMT 1 home is. I unfortunately don’t have a car which would be the obvious fastest and easiest way to bring any event equipment back from far away so the only realistic option is to carry it back.
   
   However, in this scenario there’s no one around to help me and the speaker I’d assume is quite heavy. But crucially I don’t think it’s as heavy as the drinks I couldn’t finish that I had to carry from my Otacruise cabin to the tram to the metro and from there back home all while not feeling that great after a night of partying. Carrying the speaker all by myself while hung over would therefore be doable, at least I know the way from Teekkarikylä to ASki well as someone who visits ASki daily. Might not be the most optimal choice but it’s the only realistic one.

Again, thank you for these questions! Looking forward to the DSDeputy interview that should hopefully be soon!