Anna Laurinsilta began studying ethnology at the University of Helsinki in the autumn of 1981 and graduated as a Master of Arts in the summer of 2008. She is one of the hundreds who were driven by the degree reform to finish their master’s theses before the autumn of 2008.

– By nature I want to finish what I have started. Of course I had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind about my unfinished thesis and degree.

Laurinsilta studied assiduously in the 1980s. During her University studies she also became a certified physiotherapist and then went back to start working on her master’s thesis.

– We had decided to move abroad because of my husband’s work. I thought I would need a more practical profession to be guaranteed employment there. Ultimately, I didn’t get a work permit in the United States, and I have never really worked as a physiotherapist.

Laurinsilta and her husband moved back to Finland during the height of the depression in the 1990s. She managed to find work as a sales secretary in a business focusing on biotechnology, where she spent the next seven years. In that time two children were born to the family.

– I remember once running into my professor of ethnology, Juhani U.E. Lehtonen, while pushing a pram. I immediately felt the need to explain to him why my thesis was still not finished. He simply encouraged me not to worry too much and to enjoy my small children.

Before moving abroad, Laurinsilta had travelled around Finland gathering data for her thesis. She interviewed a large number of ferrymen and then transcribed the data while living in the United States, but writing the actual thesis was postponed for several years.

While working at the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, Laurinsilta took a leave of absence and worked on her thesis, but was unable to finish it. In 2007, the Faculty of Arts informed students of the upcoming degree reform. Many who had left university with their master’s theses unfinished were inspired to put on their study caps and complete their degrees.

– I felt a debt of gratitude towards all those ferrymen whom I had interviewed. I felt I would have wronged them by not finishing my thesis. In early 2008, I decided to make things happen.

After coming home from work, Laurinsilta would barricade herself downstairs to write. The final version of her thesis was completed over Easter, as was surely the case with many others who graduated in the summer of 2008.

– I was delighted when I turned in my thesis and could start preparing for the final exam. It was amusing to see so many familiar faces at the graduation ceremony in June – people who I had thought had graduated years ago. At the ceremony we middle-aged folk were beaming just as brightly as the young graduates.

A few days later a reporter for the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat phoned Laurinsilta and told her they were doing a story on the Tappuvirta Ferry in Eastern Finland, which was being closed down, and they needed some comments from an expert.

– The reporter had found my thesis on the ferrymen. Over the next few days, It was fun to read stories that referred to my study, and I was credited as a recent graduate. Those stories also meant I received congratulations from several unexpected places. I would reply that the date of my graduation was carefully planned so I could get Helsingin Sanomat to report on it.