Sakari Pesola was accepted into the University of Oulu after completing upper secondary school in 1982. In those days the field had an odd abbreviation - ADP. – Good lord, I wonder how life would have worked out if I had gone there. Instead of ADP, I ended up studying land surveying at the University of Technology in Otaniemi.

When the band Kolmas Nainen broke up in 1994, Sakari Pesola had to come up with a new profession pretty quickly. He had not been able to imagine himself teaching before, but as he was doing his teacher training his interest grew.

Before the breakthrough of Kolmas Nainen, Sakari Pesola played in various band projects. Kolmas Nainen was made up of his closest study mates and they had a huge number of gigs and released many albums from the mid-1980s up to 1994. – Alavus Upper Secondary School was where Kolmas Nainen got started. My classmate Raimo Valkama is the bassist and Pasi Kallioniemi the drummer. The singer Pauli Hanhiniemi and guitarist Timo Löyvä were one year younger than us. We started working together at the bomb shelter of the apartment building I was subletting at the time.

Sakari Pesola has three passions: history, music and orienteering. Sometimes orienteering is tops. Especially in the late spring when there is less teaching and the school year begins to draw to a close.

My best moment at the University of Helsinki is definitely when I met my wife for the first time.

Kolmas Nainen became a bit of a household name (among followers of Finnish music, that is) in 1984 when it took part in the Finnish Rock Championships. The group of mates from Alavusi maintained great co-ordination even under pressure from the competition. The recording is from the Yle Elävä arkisto,…