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Gabriel Chan
Gabriel Chan was EIC during the Spring 2006 term. He graduated in 2008 from Systems Design (“08SYS”). For his fourth year design project, he built a website annotation system. After graduation, he commercialized it, and co-founded Thinkpanda.com, a thought-based collaboration platform, in 2009. “We became experts in the art of knowledge management, which encompasses data and information science,” says Gabriel, ‘Chief Ninja’ of Thinkpanda.com. “I’ve since been working on these ‘data smart’ projects for customers from various industries.”
Ironically, Gabriel hadn’t even planned to be an EIC—but during the spring 2006 term, there were no returning IW staff who hadn’t been EIC before. “‘Destiny seldomly comes at the time of our choosing,’” quotes Gabriel. Nevertheless, he developed a fast and efficient system during production weekend. “I assembled a huge staff from IW veterans and my classmates, and our operations ran like clockwork. We typically put together the whole thing in 12 hours.”
One of the most notable features about Gabriel’s EIC term was that it was during his term that the “Irongate Scandal” happened. Many students from the 3A Systems Design class were largely dissatisfied with the Spring 2006 executive, and two students wrote biting editorials criticizing the organization of the Engineering Society at that time. These editorials, published in Issue 5, drew the attention of many active EngSoc members, who later canvassed the university to remove all printed copies.
“This blew up into the ‘Irongate’ scandal,” says Gabriel, “which exposed a great deal of neglected administrative and bureaucratic relationships and spurred a debate about media funding, censorship, and professionalism throughout the entire Faculty. Since Issue 6 was the last issue, EngSoc complained it was not given an opportunity to rebut, so I put together S06 Issue 7.
“Prior to Irongate, EngSoc really did not care about what IW put in the paper, nor were they interested in growing it, though quad-monthly UW’s talent churn makes continuity a challenge for many organizations. EngSoc took IW much more seriously after Irongate, participating much more in its content and vision. Overall I think Irongate left a positive legacy for The Iron Warrior.”
Gabriel has left a legacy with his extra-curricular activites at Waterloo. While on term, he spent 80% of his time in extra-curricular activites, everywhere from being the first conductor for the Engineering Jazz band, to organizing the Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference, to rowing for the Systems Design Engineering Dragonboat Team. He also went on an exchange in Germany (despite being four months late for the application process, and not having enough language credits), and ended up finding employment there for his subsequent work term. He stayed there for nearly a year.
Gabriel truly believes in the Chinese saying “grinding an iron pillar down to a needle.” “People can say all they want about how stupid you are for trying or how pointless it is, but the truth is only you know why you have to do it and how you will do it, and you know you gotta do it.” At present, he’s devoted to his start ups, and other entrepreneurship committees. Although Gabriel is grateful for the technological expertise that Waterloo provided him, he believes that a more business-intensive background is something that is learned outside of the classroom. However, he has had great mentors to help him in his career, and he’s an active part of organizations such as EPIC and Junior Achievement so that he, too, can mentor students passionate in both business and technology.
James Schofield
James Schofield was EIC during the Winter 2005 term. He graduated in 2008 from Computer Engineering (‘Overclocked’ was the class name, “but a plurality of the class preferred to drop the “l”, as a reflection our extreme gender-imbalance,” quipped James). James is currently living in Seattle, working in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. He tackles a variety of computing problems, but at the same time, gets to travel around the world to visit many of Amazon’s warehouses.
Notable articles written by various staff in James’ term included the covering of the first EngInuity, the movement of the School of Architecture from the Faculty of Environment to the Faculty of Engineering, and a PCP about whether IRS is still a “relevant” celebration. James also wrote a thought-provoking editorial about some comments that Dr. Lawrence Summers, the then-president of Harvard University, made regarding the idea that women might be ‘innately less capable’ in the field of math and science.
“I absolutely hated writing the letter from the editor,” admits James. “I would fuss over perfecting every other page of the paper, completely ignoring the four columns of space I had to fill on page 2, until finally it was midnight the day of the deadline. I thought most of what I was writing was complete garbage, and then I happened to be hanging out in the SyDe room, and noticed that somebody had clipped my column and stuck it on their wall. Maybe it wasn’t that bad after all.”
Apart from The Iron Warrior, James has a love of travel and the outdoors. After graduation, he went backpacking around India. He also loves the outdoors. “It’s easy to fill a weekend with some biking, backpacking, rock climbing, or skiing,” says James. “As soon as I got my first pay cheque I bought myself a nice road bike, and worked up to doing a 300 km Seattle to Portland ride.” He’s taken a mountaineering course and reached the summit of Mount Baker.
James really encourages students to do an exchange. In his 3B term, he went on exchange in Lausanne, Switzerland. “I met a lot of great friends, learned to function in French, and got to experience Europe living as a local.” He believes it is a great way to get out of Waterloo for a semester and see another part of the world.
John Olaveson
John Olaveson was EIC during the Spring 2004 term. He graduated in 2008 from Civil Engineering (“Full Tilt”). John is currently working for Brampton Transit, and worked initially with IBI Group. He works mainly with municipal infrastructure projects, completing design reviews, and performing contract administration duties, but he’s getting more into the in-depth side of design.
John really felt the pressure of being an EIC during his term. “I underestimated the time it would take to edit the paper on my first issue. I had an all-nighter getting that thing together, and as soon as I finished, I fell asleep on the IW couch [back when the IW office was in the Orifice].” As an afterthought, he adds, “I hope you’ve upgraded that couch.”
John had the ability to work with an enormous variety of articles written by many students during his time as EIC, including an article detailing the tragic death of Professor Robert W. Macdonald, written by Francis Hope. Other notable articles covered during his time included a thought-provoking PCP/extra-editorial insert about whether minor political parties should sponsor candidates in elections and whether landed immigrants with dual citizenships be allowed to study at Canadian universities.
Co-op jobs, and networking, is one aspect of Waterloo for which John is extremely grateful. He admits to having a long period of unemployment some time after graduation. “[I] finally got a job through an old co-op boss, so keep in touch,” he recommends. “Networking may sound like a cliché, but it worked for me.”
However, one of the biggest changes in John’s life was having to fight testicular cancer. He is a strong supporter of the Underwear Affair, a fundraising event from the BC Cancer Foundation. The Underwear Affair is a 5-10 km walk, used to raise funds to support the prevention and detection of the seven “below-the-belt” cancers. “Don’t be shy,” John warns. “Check yourself or see your doctor.”
Outside of work, John’s taken an active interest in local hockey teams. “I played on the company softball team the past two seasons and I just joined a shinny hockey group. It’s my first time playing hockey on ice so I have a lot to learn but I’m excited to be participating.”
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