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Editor's Note: Alan Martin
is an electrical engineering student at the University of
Calgary, currently on an internship work term at the university.
He's been a university student for three years, and after
his work term ends in August, he'll begin his final year of
studies. This is his first student contributor column for
The PEGG.
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BY ALAN MARTIN
University of Calgary
Student Contributor
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Once again, a new school year has arrived, bringing with
it a fresh year of events and opportunities at the University
of Calgary. Frosh Week introduced new students to engineering
with a full week of fun Sept. 15 to 19.
Six teams competed against each other, including the five
departments (civil, chemical, electrical, geomatics and mechanical)
and a frosh team. Each team had a theme, ranging from Pirates
of the Zooribbean (electrical) to Chemardi gras (chemical).
All the teams were dressed for their theme, from the civil
engineering Centurions to the kilted Scots of mechanical engineering,
showing great engineering spirit the whole week.
The week officially began with the lighting of the torch during
opening ceremonies in the engineering courtyard. Each department
tried to have its biggest showing at this event, with many
people in different costumes showing their spirit and supporting
their department.
One Frosh Week event is Adopt-a-Frosh, which has frosh students
mingle in the engineering lounge with returning engineering
students, who share their knowledge, experiences and sometimes
a few drinks. It is a great event, both for the new and returning
students.
Another popular event is the chariot race. Each team brought
a "chariot," which can be made out of anything from
wood to old shopping carts. Team members pulled their chariots
down a road lined with people. Blockers escorted the chariots,
protecting them from a rain of unusual and often sticky substances
graciously provided by the bystanders. While the winner is
still the first one across the finish line, just finishing
is worth it, as everyone shares in the celebrations.
The final event of Frosh Week is a recent addition, the Minotaur,
which joined the tradition with its first run last year. The
Minotaur has checkpoints set up throughout the engineering
building, and frosh must try to find all the checkpoints while
avoiding the "Minotaur" guarding each one.
This can be quite challenging, especially for first years,
since the engineering building is a maze itself. Even after
spending three years there, I still have trouble finding my
way around the basement levels.
All in all, Frosh Week was a lot of fun for everyone. In the
end the civil engineering team beat out all the other departments
to be named the winner of Frosh Week 2003. Congratulations,
Centurions!
Windows of Opportunity
Helping engineering students to learn about careers is an
important duty of the Engineering Students' Society at the
U of C. Sept. 25 was the University of Calgary Engineering
Career Fair and Clubs Day.
This event, which has been gathering steam for two years,
saw companies, organizations and clubs come together to give
students the chance to see what's out there. In addition to
companies' displays, there were displays set up for APEGGA,
Engineers Without Borders, U of C Career Services, engineering
departments and more.
A lot of useful information was available and many people
came to take advantage of it. Workshops were also available
before the career fair, both for resume writing and career
fair preparation, in order to better prepare the students
for this important event.
Said Career Fair Director Chris Popoff: "By measuring
the success of this year's event, ESS can hope to see this
become one of the strongest and more time-honoured events
that we hold annually."
This event was put together through the efforts of Mr. Popoff
and the rest of the organizing committee - Keith Knudsen,
Allison Hagerman, Rob Johnston, Derek Kormish and Megan Cropper.
"I would like to thank the committee for all for their
dedication and hard work over the long summer months, for
putting up with my sometimes overbearing orders. I would also
like to thank everyone who came down to represent their companies
to our students, and would like to extend an open invitation
for anyone interested in attending this event next year to
contact me."
Reach Mr. Popoff at chris.popoff@baytex.ab.ca
or by phoning (403) 267-0755.
APEGGA Mixer Succeeds
Oct. 1 featured another event designed to give students a
better idea of what happens in the work world. The APEGGA
mixer, organized by current Vice-President Academic Rob Johnston,
with help from ESS and APEGGA, featured professionals from
the engineering community and garnered a very high student
turnout.
Refreshments, such as pizza and soft drinks, as well as a
cash bar, were available at this event. The free food quickly
disappeared as many students and professionals mingled, discussing
what it's like to be working as an engineer and what kinds
of opportunities are out there. There were also several booths
set up by organizations related to engineering.
Prizes were awarded at the end of the day to several professionals
and students who had filled their "bingo cards"
for the day with names of other people fitting specific characteristics,
such as "third-year engineering student," or, "attended
university outside of Alberta." The cards encouraged
people to mingle and provided a good icebreaker. Throughout
the two-hour session, people were coming and going, but the
room was always full. A big thanks goes out to all the professionals
who attended, the organizers, and the students who took part.
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