Final-year student Ohto: "Leppävaaran lukio has great teachers, a positive atmosphere, and an excellent sports programme"

Ohto Heiskanen is a final-year student in the sports programme of the Leppävaaran lukio upper secondary school. According to Ohto, the school has nice teachers and a great overall atmosphere.

Ohto Heiskanen is studying his third year in the sports programme at Leppävaaran lukio. He is a track and field athlete specialising in long-distance running, from 800 metres to 5 kilometres. Ohto started track and field training at the age of 10. According to Ohto, he is now in the TOP5 of his own age group. In the Finnish Championships, he recently came in fourth in the 3,000-metre steeplechase. His favourite event is the 1,500-metre race.

Ohto applied to Leppävaaran lukio specifically because of its sports programme. He also lives close by, so the school's location also had a major impact on Ohto’s choice. Ohto represents the athletics club Helsingin Kisa-Veikot, which means that the trainings usually take place a little further away from his home and school. Still, Ohto rarely misses school due to practices – but competitions are a whole different story. “Missing classes because of sports is not a problem here,” Ohto describes the flexibility of the sports programme.

For Ohto, the best part of upper secondary school are his friends. Ohto already knew some of his classmates, but his best friends at school are people he had never met before coming to Leppävaaran lukio.

Ohto has many great memories from his school years. So far, one of the best experiences has been the seniors’ ball. “It was a great day right from the start,” Ohto says.

In Ohto’s view, the teachers at Leppävaara are genuinely nice. For Ohto, the most interesting subjects have been psychology and history, which he intends to take in the matriculation examination. Last spring, Ohto received a scholarship for psychology. In fact, he finds the field so fascinating that he intends to apply to study psychology at a university. However, it is "incredibly difficult" to get in. After upper secondary school, Ohto is planning to take a gap year. Of course, his athletic endeavours will continue also after upper secondary school.

When Mayor Kai Mykkänen visited Leppävaaran lukio, Ohto sang and played the piano for the mayor. Ohto is a self-learned singer and piano player; he has not taken any singing or piano lessons. It was first in Leppävaara that Ohto first took part in an open stage event. The school’s music teacher liked his singing and piano playing, and eventually Ohto found himself performing in the graduation festivities last spring. Moreover, Ohto is a bold performer in the field of music. He has started a duo with a friend, and they post singing videos on TikTok.

Otto’s message to ninth-graders is to really think about where they would feel the most comfortable studying. He advises everyone to take part in presentation events, where they can check out the surroundings and atmosphere at the school. “Leppävaaran lukio has great people, a positive atmosphere and a sports programme that works well,” Ohto says. “And the food is also tasty," he states.