From organizing the career fair to throwing parties, SASSE (Student Association at Stockholm School of Economics) holds many responsibilities. SASSE consists of eight committees: Business Committee, Education Committee, Entertainment Committee, International Committee, Media Committee, Social Committee, Sports Committee, and Tech Committee. What each committee does is fairly self-explanatory by its name. The committees that I’m mostly involved with are the Tech Committee and the International Committee.
Similarities? Differences?
A big difference between student activities at Hamilton and SSE is that instead of specific student clubs, most student activities are done through these eight committees in what they call ‘projects.’ For example, the Tech Committee’s ongoing projects include De-code Project (a student-led workshop on HTML, CSS, and Node JS) and SASSE AI (lectures to educate students about AI). Instead of joining a specific club, you rather hop on a project within the committee.
Since the committees mostly focus on organizing bigger events for the school, you don’t have the close-knitted, intimate feel of a student club at Hamilton. So, a downside to this structure is that unless you are part of the leadership, or unless you are involved in a sports club, it is rather difficult to get to know people through student activities.
However, a positive aspect is that the events are very inclusive, even to those who have not regularly attended other committee activities. So far, I went to around four Tech Committee events and I hardly ran into anyone I saw before! All you need to do to secure your spot is sign up online in advance. For popular events, especially company visits or events with free lunches, there will often be a waitlist.
Another interesting aspect is that you need to buy a ticket for most of the non-educational events such as parties and bowling nights. Depending on the event, it can be as cheap as 50 SEK (around $5) and as expensive as 450 SEK ($45).
American Association and Swedish “Buddy”
When registering for the Swedish Program, I asked to be matched with a SSE Buddy, a student volunteer at SSE who is interested in cultural exchange. This is done through the American Association in the International Committee, and it is nice since some events are subsidized. Earlier this month, I had lunch with my buddy Jonna, who is a friendly first-year student at SSE, and last week, we went mini-golfing, the first Buddy event of the year. My team actually won first place so we got medals! Some of the buddies came over to our Swedish class and practiced basic Swedish conversation with us, which was really helpful.
Favorite Lunch Lectures so far:
- Art Talk: Escalating Art Worlds: A curator came to talk about the Maria Bonner Dahlin Foundation, which recognizes young artists, and the temporal exhibition currently displayed at Bonnier Staircases at SSE.
- Build your own AI: A representative from Peltarion, a Swedish software company, gave a brief explanation about Peltarion and AI, and took us step-by-step in creating a simple AI that classifies Twitter tweets from American politicians.
- Ericsson Response – Disaster Relief Program: A volunteer talked about her experience at Ericsson Response, in particular, how they help provide wifi and cell service to disaster areas.
