The First Year

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Meet Sini-Tuulia Sohkanen (’12)

Posted by Brittany Karford Rogers (BA ’07), Associate Editor

Hometown and High School: Mikkeli, Finland; Eira High School for Adults and the Helsinki Conservatory

Applied To: BYU and Finland’s Sibelius Academy

Major Plans: Violin performance

Interests and Achievements: Received first violin at age 5; two-time finalist in the National Violin Competition; has performed in eight countries; speaks four languages (Finnish, English, German, Swedish); can out-fish her brothers; makes a mean meatball; cooks everything from scratch.

Plans to Bring to Provo: Diabetes meds (free to her in Finland, far from free in the United States)

Independent Woman: At age 14 Sini-Tuulia (pronounced “See Knee Doolia”) Sohkanen moved out of her parents’ house to live three hours away in the nation’s capital, Helsinki—closer to better teachers. “My mom was scared, of course,” Sini-Tuulia says, but her violin teacher told them that Sini-Tuulia would have to move to keep progressing.

In Helsinki Sini-Tuulia lived with two roommates, one 15 and one 23, until their party lifestyle led her to move into her own apartment at age 17. “It was, like, one room with a little kitchen and a shower so tiny you needed to stand in the corner so you didn’t get the whole bathroom wet!” Sini-Tuulia says. The best part was when all six of her family members would come to stay the night. “They would come to Helsinki for stake conferences or a temple trip or just to visit. The whole place was covered with mattresses.”

Not Your Typical High School: One of Sini-Tuulia’s high school classmates was 80 years old. “Most of the students were around 30,” she says, explaining that in Finland there are two options for secondary education: lukio, similar to high school in the United States, or ammattikoulu, vocational school. Sini-Tuulia’s life in Helsinki was a blend of the two; she attended a music conservatory, fitting in traditional classes at a lukio for adults. Finnish and English were required subjects, to which Sini-Tuulia added German and Swedish. “I read the Harry Potters in Swedish and German,” she says.

Not Different: Sini-Tuulia often served at the missionary outreach center in Helsinki—where she met just about every missionary serving in Finland. An elder from Sandy, Utah, was the first to put the BYU bug in her ear. She applied, despite knowing that universities in Finland are free and having already been accepted to Finland’s Sibelius Academy—one of the largest music universities in Europe. “It’s not Julliard, but you could compare it to that,” Sini-Tuulia says.

When it came time to audition for acceptance into BYU’s School of Music, Sini-Tuulia could have just mailed a tape. Instead, in January 2008 she flew to the United States to visit campus. “Probably if I hadn’t come all the way out, I wouldn’t be [at BYU],” she says. During her two-week stay, Sini-Tuulia navigated the Harris Fine Arts Center and played in orchestra rehearsals and performance classes. “We started the master class with a prayer,” she recalls. “It was the first time in my life to feel like I wasn’t different. I didn’t have to defend myself and my beliefs; I didn’t have to explain why I don’t do certain things, or why I do do certain things. The Church part, that was just awesome. I guess that’s why I could see myself [at BYU].”

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