Vocational Special Needs Teacher Jenna Tynkkynen is Jamk's Alumni of the Year 2024

Vocational Special Needs Teacher Jenna Tynkkynen is Jamk's Alumni of the Year 2024

The Alumni of the Year Award is given to a graduate of the Jamk University of Applied Sciences who, after graduating, has been a positive Jamk ambassador and has promoted cooperation between the Jamk and working life.

"Jenna Tynkkynen's activity during her studies as a vocational special needs teacher education and her professional cooperation with Jamk were decisive in her selection as Jamk University of Applied Sciences' Alumni of the Year 2024," says Tytti Pintilä, specialist in charge of Jamk's alumni activities.

Jenna Tynkkynen graduated as a vocational special needs teacher from Jamk School of Professional Teacher Education in 2018. She can be described as a spokesperson for lifelong learning and different career paths.

After receiving a vocational qualification in hairdressing at the age of 19, Tynkkynen first worked as an entrepreneur in the field, until she was inspired to study for a bachelor's degree and at the same time work as a teacher in the hairdressing industry. To qualify as a teacher, she completed professional teacher education. After graduating from the vocational special needs teacher education, she worked as a comprehensive special education teacher at a middle school and studied for a master's degree in educational sciences alongside her work.

Currently, Tynkkynen works at Saimaa vocational college Sampo as a coordinating special education teacher, develops special support, works as a compulsory education specialist, leads a special support team, and also works as a special education teacher in the hairdressing industry.

The election of Jenna Tynkkynen as Alumni of the Year praises the fact that she strongly develops special education in her own work at Sampo and acts as an excellent advocate for vocational special needs education.

"I am very solution-oriented by nature and development is close to my heart, which I get to do a lot in my current job, and the employer usually supports my ideas", Tynkkynen is happy. She also talks about the special needs training for Sampo's teachers and management implemented jointly by Sampo and Jamk.

Jenna Tynkkynen encourages students to be curious and active also after their studies. "I feel that the most important role of an alumni is to bring a message from the field and tell what kind of world special education is conducted in today," says Tynkkynen.