Hello again, and for the last time, magnificent IW Reader.
It is the last IW issue of the term, and my last ever as an EngSoc Executive. I have very much enjoyed my time as VP Finance and then President over the past 32 months, and I hope that most of you have been pleased with what I have accomplished for the Society over that time.
Having already written an article about my shortcomings, and an article about what I believe the Society needs to do moving forward, this one will be a little bit more self-indulgent, so bear with me if you can. I want to start by thanking the people that really pushed me forward and enabled me to get all that I did done. I would like to thank both of my executive teams; Leah Allen, Derek Thompson, Angela Stewart, Lisa Belbeck, Michael Seliske, Drew Dutton, Brendan O’Hanlon, Annamaria Reda, Kevin McNamara, and Leila Meema-Coleman. They were all a pleasure to work with (most of the time) and I definitely can’t see my terms turning out as well without this group of fine people.
Of course, I need to also thank Mary Bland, the Engineering Society’s amazing Business Manager. Without her, my terms very likely would have crashed and burned. She is a wonderful person, and very passionate about the students; the Engineering Society is extremely lucky and privileged to have her. I also need to thank Meghan Mitchell, the faculty’s Student Relations Officer, and our incredible Dean of Engineering, Pearl Sullivan, they have both done nothing but support EngSoc throughout my time here. We should all be proud to have Dean Sullivan at Waterloo, and I am excited to see what else happens during her tenure.
But alas, I will not be as involved in what is coming forward. My time as President is up, and it is time for the next set of executive to take the helm of the Society. I have nothing but faith in the new A-Society President, Leila Meema-Coleman, and her B-Society counterpart, Allyson Francis. I am very excited to see what they bring to the Society in the coming year.
For those of you hoping to be rid of me altogether, I am sorry to disappoint. Although I will obviously be less involved with the Society than I have over the past few years, I will still be involved in student life here at Waterloo. I am very happy to have been ratified as the incoming WEEF Director for A-Stream. I am also looking forward to my positions as one of the EngFOC, and as a member of the Board of the CFES. I definitely plan to be around the Society still, but will need to figure out where I fit in now. As well, I am hoping to start writing for the IW a bit, so keep your eyes peeled for those articles, and let me know what you think of them.
As always, questions and concerns can be sent to me at president.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca, although you only have a few more weeks to get those to me!
Have fun for the rest of the term, good luck on exams, and good luck to Leila and her whole team for their upcoming term as executive, I know it will be a great one.
Signing off for the last time,
David Birnbaum
Engineering Society President
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