A question often raised about the Waterloo Engineering Society’s membership in the Engineering Student Councils’ Society of Ontario (ESSCO) is the following: “What does ESSCO actually do for the average engineering student at Waterloo?” Sure, it’s evident that ESSCO benefits the students who attend its four annual conferences. However this is typically only about 40 students out of over 6000 engineering undergraduates, or 0.7% of the undergraduate population. So, what benefit are the other 99.3% of students getting? I myself asked this same question until a recent epiphany I had this past weekend at ESSCO’s Annual General Meeting answered it: ESSCO offers unparalleled leadership development, as well as the generation of new and well-used services for our members.
An ESSCO conference generally consists of several presentations targeted at developing an aspect of a school’s Engineering Society. For instance, at the First-Year Integration Conference (FYIC) in 2013, Queen’s University gave a presentation regarding their successful First-Year mentoring program. The following Fall, Waterloo implemented its own version of Queen’s First-Year mentoring program, which was successful in helping numerous First-Year students develop their academic, social and professional skills. Other services the Engineering Society provides that have been directly implemented from sessions at ESSCO conferences include the Textbook Library and plans on how to implement a Career Fair. Note that these ideas were heard and implemented during the 2013-2014 school year. If you were to look back a few years, many more services undergraduate students use every day were probably the direct result of an ESSCO conference.
Other important sessions that occur at ESSCO conferences are Forums, which are an opportunity for Ontario Engineering schools to discuss solutions to issues that their engineering societies face. For instance, this past weekend at ESSCO’s Annual General Meeting, a forum was held on inclusivity in Engineering Societies. A huge problem many Engineering Societies face is that their organization appears to certain students as clique in which only a certain “type” of person may be a member. The reality is that every engineering undergraduate student is a member of their Engineering Society, regardless of their background or personality. As such, it is the Engineering Society’s responsibility to ensure that it is providing events and services that appeal to its entire student body. The inclusivity session focused on brainstorming practices that should be eliminated, as they alienate students from their Engineering Society, as well as those that make the Society more inclusive for its members. The ideas generated during this session will be used to ensure Waterloo’s Engineering Society is benefitting each one of its members.
From my experience with Waterloo’s Engineering Society, it is evident that many of the leaders working diligently to improve the Society’s services have gained significant leadership development from ESSCO’s conferences. On both ‘A’ and ‘B’ society combined there have been a total of 9 Directors, 3 Commissioners and 4 Executives that have attended the First-Year Integration Conference in either 2012, 2013 or 2014. That is 16 student leaders whose contributions to the Engineering Society have been improved directly by ESSCO. In turn, having strong leaders for the Engineering Society ensures that the services it provides to its members will be of the highest quality.
All in all, the benefits of the Engineering Society’s membership in ESSCO to the average engineering student are evident: ESSCO benefits engineering students by indirectly introducing services to improve student life, as well as by providing personal development for the leaders who implement these services. If you are interested in being part of the provincial discussion that moves our Engineering Society forward, be sure to apply to attend ESSCO conferences, the next being ESSCO’s Professional Engineers Ontario Student Conference in November 2014! Email me at vpexternal.b@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca if you are interested in applying.
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