This term we will be hosting the inaugural First Year Conference. This conference has been based off of the First Year Integration Conference (FYIC) run each year by the Engineering Student Societies’ Council of Ontario (ESSCO). Since this conference takes place at different locations across Ontario, we aren’t able to send all of the delegates we would like to send. The delegates that do attend the conference come back with a positive learning experience and are beneficially impacted by the conference. We wanted to bring something similar to the University of Waterloo for all first year students.
The conference team (Ray Zhao, Vinay Padma, Helena Diao and Julian Wang) have been working very hard with the executive to plan this conference throughout the Spring 2014 and Fall 2014 terms. This conference is geared towards engineering students who are looking to improve their leadership and professional development skills. We will be having different speakers come and talk to students about co-op and how to be more employable. We will also be having different sessions on how to be a leader throughout your time at university and provide information on various ways to get involved over campus. This conference is designed to give first year students the tools to be successful throughout their university career as leaders, employees and students.
The greatest benefit of attending the First Year Engineering Leadership Conference is…
“…to further evolve as a leader. Not everyone is the stereotypical leader you see on TV, and that’s okay! Everyone leads in different ways, and we want to prove this to you. Oh and you’ll probably make some new friends too.”
– Vinay Padma, FYELC Co-Chair
“…to understand the opportunities outside of the classroom. I definitely wish this conference was offered when I was in first year. The opportunity to connect with other engineers in a variety of programs and to be given academic and professional resources is invaluable.”
– Helena Diao, FYELC Co-Chair
”…for students to get exposed to different leadership ideas from guest speakers and upper year students. Students will also get a chance to bond with fellow first year students and make life long connections.”
– Ray Zhao, First Year Commissioner
“…for students to grow as an individual. They can learn to become better individuals in social and professional levels that will carry on for the rest of their lives.”
– Julian Wang, FYELC Marketing
Leave a Reply