New! In addition to OR members receiving The Leading Star LEDSTJÄRNAN via mail, or email, commencing with the March, 2013 issue, the OR's Leading Star newspaper is also available for viewing &/or downloading from this website. To go to our Leading Star page, click the Leading Star's header image →
Interesting! Runeberg videos viewed 19,513 times! (as of Feb. 11, 2015) Most frequently viewed from (country: views): Finland: 6,708; USA: 3,597; Sweden: 938; Canada: 802 UK: 696; Germany: 637; Russia: 454; Netherlands: 297 Hungary: 244; Australia: 240; Norway:221; Poland: 200 Japan: 177; France: 165; Estonia: 116 ....... & other many other countries. Viewers: Male: 67%, Female: 33%
At Lodge 205 (New Haven, CT) St. Urho's Day Celebration (March, 2008), Roy Kosonen, sang an old Finnish-Karelian Folk Song, called "Reppurin Laulu", which means "The Peddler's Song". View the video at: "Reppurin Laulu"
and at Lodge 205's 2009 St. Urho's Day Celebration, Roy, upon requests, again sang "Reppurin Laulu" / "The Peddler's Song". View video at: "The Peddler's Song"
An innovative project: Jenny O'Connell hiked across Finland (the long way) to retrace the steps of Petronella Van Der Moer, who, in 1949 hiked north from Helsinki. A book, an opera, and a musical have been written in Finnish about Petronella. Jenny’s goal was to create her own adventure and share what she found through writing. You may be most interested in Jenny’s project fund raising methodology – she used “Kickstarter” (web based way to fund creative projects). Jenny’s goal was to raise $12,000 Amazingly, in just 18 days after the project’s posting, Jenny raised $12,260, and ths climbed to the final total of $14,051! You may learn more about Jenny and her project by clicking on this link Jenny now has a website that documents her walking journey across Finland, done from June to October 2014
The news media have been talking about Finland's Education system:
NPR Radio, March 8, 2014, & heard Sunday morning, March 9, 2014 "What The U.S. Can Learn From Finland, Where School Starts At Age 7" The story, done by Claudio Sanchez, Education Correspondent for NPR, starts out by pointing out that “Finland, a country the size of Minnesota, beats the U.S. in math, reading and science, even though Finnish children don't start school until age 7” and “despite the late start, the vast majority arrive with solid reading and math skills. By age 15, Finnish students outperform all but a few countries on international assessments." You may hear the four minute story, or read the story, at this link to NPR.
The Atlantic From the December 29, 2011 issue of The Atlantic, an article titled: “What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success”.Click to read the article.
CNBC An article published in September, 2013 on CNBC’s website titled “China's education plan ... from Finland's playbook” discusses changes China is adopting. From the CNBC article: “the changes China is adopting may be less about making life easier on students and more about developing an education system along the lines of a consistent top performer: Finland” and “The Finnish education system puts less emphasis on testing and homework. Students are steered toward creative activities and teachers are given wide latitude with assignments and curricula.” Click to read the CNBC article
Pictures from summer 2008 tour of the Finlandia Order
of Runeberg Singers & Folk Dancers ........
Finlandia Order of Runeberg
Singers
First row (from the left): Agneta Blomqvist, Margareta
Fredriksson, Gun Innborr, Frej Hogdahl (conductor), Marianne Wikman, Gerd
Kronqvist and Lili-Ann Brolund
Second row (from the left): Inga-Britt Lindvall, Margaretha
Blomqvist, Anita Lawast, Regina Ahlnas, Marlene Roiha, Lea Sandas, Ann-Lis Bjorklund,
Kerstin Herrgard and Sol-Britt Bjorkgren
Third row (from the left): Gosta Bjorkgren, Brian Lawast,
Torsten Bjorklund, Rolf Hagg and Svante Hoglund
Missing in the picture: Lars Vestersund,
Erik Tornqvist, Ingvald Back, Inger Back and Mariann Sjoholm
Finlandia
Order of Runeberg - Folk Dancers
First row (from the left): Ann-Lis Warnman, Benita
Nymark, Birgitta Herrmans and Berit Haga
Second row (from the left): Ole Warnman, Nils Nymark,
Stig Herrmans and Ola Haga
Third row (from the left): Eva Sundsten, Cay Sundsten,
Ann-May Nystedt (dance leader), Olof Nystedt, Kerstin Alho and Leo Alho
Missing in the picture: Anders Portin (fiddler),
Desire Saarela, Gosta Smaros and Beatrice Smaros
Finlandia
Order of Runeberg
40-to-50
dancers & singers from Finlandia Order of Runeberg visited & performed
along the West Coast of Canada & United States. They brought with them
enthusiasm and the joy of music.
Tour of dancers
and singers on the West Coast of Canada and USA
June 27th to 13th 2008
June 29 - performance at Scandinavian
Community Center, Vanc. BC
July 1, 7.00 p.m. - performance at Swedish
Cultural Center in Seattle.
July 2, - performance at Colonial Estates,
South East Olympia, WA
July 3 10.00 am visited Capitol Building in
Olympia. By bus to Coos Bay.
