The first school year started in -97. When I close my eyes, I can still wander through the beloved school’s corridors in my memories. I remember the faces of my classmates, the teachers.

How scary the big teacher’s room was, how it felt to knock on that door. The auditorium filled with numerous plays, spring and Christmas celebrations. How thrillingly exciting.

I got a smiley girl statue in the second grade, it is still in the display case and an important emotional memory. Laughter and play during recess. The art class was the best. A maze-like traditional school, desks and blackboards. Overhead projectors and travel notebooks. Discos. Teachers, the sense of community was great.

How many times did we go to the outdoor toilet during recess to escape the cold? Or line up for a band-aid from the world’s most empathetic nurse. Thanks to my class teachers Kirsi Puumalainen and Pekka Pihko for a big handful of wonderful school memories. As we got a recorder for my first child for school, I felt a strong urge to see if the Edelweiss learned in elementary school would come back to me. It didn’t take many tries; it had stuck in my muscle memory. Just like many other things. How important it is for a teacher to be understanding and patient. Thank you for everything.
Heidi

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Råman Maire was my wonderful teacher in 1st and 2nd grade. In 3rd and 4th grade, there was also a nice teacher, Saara Lastunen. In 4th grade, English language teaching started with Teinilä Olavi, I have no nice memories of him; we were afraid of the teacher. In 5th and 6th grade, Alpo Hieta was our teacher. He had a heart for music, taught us Greek music and how to dance Zorba. He pulled out 10-50 pennies from his own wallet if we got a good grade on tests. In 7th and 8th grade, we were in what was called a Citizens’ School. Back then, Terttu Hålkwast was the girls’ handicraft teacher, and Aune Järvenpää was the home economics teacher. She would send two girls at a time to the Osula store for food shopping; it was an exciting trip. Mathematics was taught by Martti Tauru. “Tipo” Timo Urjanheimo was also a teacher; he took us to many places. As he walked through the classroom, he snapped his suspenders 😊 It’s a pity if the beautiful large wall painting, “The Steps of Knowledge,” painted by Onni Oja, at the bottom of the stairs, gets destroyed. It was lovely to watch the fish in the aquarium.

Schoolchild of 1963.

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I remember playing football during recess with a nice group.

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The first grades in elementary school were fun. Teacher Sirkka-Liisa is someone who has left a very positive impression on me. It was always joyful and safe to be in her classes.

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In 1954, a new beautiful primary school building was completed in Turenki. A daycare program also began in the building. Students from different schools in Janakkala were collected for the eighth grade. There were three classes: A, B, and C. I was in class C, which had students from Löyttymäki, Jokimaa, Tanttala, and Saloisten. The school was a predecessor to the Citizens’ School four years before the Citizens’ School law regulations. The school was very practical oriented, with woodworking, metalworking, electrical studies, agriculture, etc. The practical subjects were to my liking. The teachers were nice and competent in teaching their subjects. School days were long, from nine to four, and bus rides were added; Saturdays were free. The handicrafts made there are still preserved, like a kitchen stool, an expandable dining table, and a weather vane. The workshops were spacious and well-equipped. I especially remember the metalworking and machine instruction teacher, Erkki Tiensuu.

Girls also studied practical subjects, such as home economics, childcare, weaving, clothing sewing, and garment maintenance, etc. From the village of Saloisten, there was a beautiful dark girl, Eila Tuomi, in class A. In the spring of 1955, Eila had the best average in the daycare program and received a smiley boy. Smiley boys were given out for the first time; the smiley girl statues came later. Eila later graduated as a primary school teacher from Raahen Seminaari. In 1964, Eila became my wife. I graduated as a metalworking teacher from Rauman Seminaari.

Eila and I were among the first students of the school, and now our daughter-in-law, Virpi Löyttyniemi, is there as a teacher and is moving to the new school building.
Juhani Löyttyniemi

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From the 70s, I remember a teacher who “threw” students against the wall on their birthdays. He was a good teacher, although sometimes very strict. There were also those teachers who treated the children of “better” families better than those from poorer families.
During recess, we jumped rope and played tag, and the boys played football on the sports field.
Piikku64

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My mother, I, and my daughter have all attended the same school. In my time (around the 70s-80s), the aquarium in the main hall was in poor condition, but it was nice to see that during my daughter’s time, it was taken care of and the water was clear.
3 generations

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• So many memories. The first that comes to mind is the spring celebrations, their good and slightly nervous atmosphere. Wonderfully executed performances, good community spirit among students and teachers.
• Also, moving to the bigger side in 4th grade was a memorable thing; it was great.
• Good teachers.

• My sister’s class pet day. Others also got to see animals in the school’s upper yard.
  A fantastic principal. Even held math classes sometimes.
• The big artwork has also stayed in memory, was it now on the wall of the staircase leading to the auditorium? And the aquarium in the lower lobby.
  An odd memory is the little bathroom at the end of the hallway that was not supposed to be used if one left during class. Of course, it was used.
  J

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I studied in grades 2-6 at that school. The class trips and discos have stayed in memory, as well as the railing outside where we spun around.
Eve

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I was born in 1946. I started my school in the outbuilding of Heikkilä’s farm along Lammintie. The journey from Retuperä to school was quite a distance. On the way to school, we passed the Tapaila Old Age Home, which at that time also had a so-called “mad room.” The wooden fences at both ends of the now-demolished building were high, and from behind the fences came various sounds that excited us children. Under the guidance of teacher Toini Oksanen, we moved to a new school. The environment of the school was quite different compared to today. In front of the school was a potato field from which we collected potatoes to the school kitchen in the fall. There was no ice cream factory yet, and we collected lingonberries from the then forest for the school kitchen.

There were many students, and at one point, our class was divided into girls’ and boys’ classes. The boys’ class was placed in the carpet storage at the back of the auditorium. Alpo Hieta became the teacher for the boys’ class. He was a music man, and since we boys were eager to sing, the idea sparked in Alpo. He played some songs on the central radio, and we boys beat the rhythm on the desk. Those who could drum the best he gathered together, and thus the Turengin musicians were born. Instruments were collected from around the community. I got an instrument, either a cornet found in the local militia’s or labor association’s store. We had plenty of gigs and participated in competitions between primary school clubs in Oulu, Varkaus, and Pori with quite good success. The worst competitor was probably the musicians from Keuruu.

So those school years passed, we were excited to see who would win the smiley boy statue and how well we could criticize Turmiola Tommi in the temperance writing competition. None of these writings helped everyone. The Citizens’ School had a lot of practical teaching, e.g. polishing in cramped spaces, which meant a lot of fumes from the polish. My childhood friend, neighbor, and classmate sniffed more polish than he polished the coffee table. I don’t understand how that was possible at that time and was allowed to happen. That same woodworking teacher also provided knowledge about construction and asked how much the ground sinks under the building. We didn’t know, so he answered himself, “The land sinks as much as it sinks.” With this knowledge, I have tried to get by in the construction industry and as an entrepreneur.

A great event was also the spring handicraft exhibition, where the children’s parents got to see how skilled the children were.

What will happen now when my new school becomes an old school? Maybe it will sink into the same Iron Age burial ground upon which the school was originally built.

Rauno Vesala
A resident of Turenki living in Hämeenlinna