ESSCO

The University of Waterloo is one of fifteen member schools of the Engineering Student Societies’ Council of Ontario (ESSCO). The council serves to represent undergraduate engineering students across Ontario to professional associations such as Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO), the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE), and the Council of Ontario Deans of Engineering (CODE). ESSCO also communicates matters of common interest to the council on a national level through the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES). In addition to representing engineering students across Ontario, ESSCO also provides many opportunities such as conferences, events, and volunteer opportunities, which are all excellent ways for YOU to get involved!

First Year Integration Conference (FYIC)

FYIC is one of four conferences run annually by ESSCO.  This conference is for first year engineering students who are looking to become more involved with their school’s engineering society. FYIC focuses on leadership development, and provides an introduction to CFES, PEO, and OSPE and the role of ESSCO with each of these organizations. This conference will take place at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario over a weekend in the Winter term and is open to students that are in 4-stream and 8-stream.  Students attending this conference will learn about ESSCO, being a leader and getting involved. FYIC is also a great way to meet first year engineering students within Waterloo and across Ontario, as well as interacting and gaining insight from the VP-Externals who are involved in the Waterloo Engineering Society, as well as ESSCO. Applications will be opening at the end of October, so keep an eye out for FYIC application details on the EngSoc Facebook page and your email!

ESSCO Rube Goldberg Project

March is National Engineering Month and during the month, ESSCO takes on various initiatives to learn about and showcase engineering excellence.  One of these initiatives is the Rube Goldberg Project, where ESSCO schools individually design and build a Rube Goldberg Machine. These machines come together to create one big machine.  The Rube Goldberg Project from last year had 9 schools build machines that came together to light up the CN tower purple! All undergraduate engineering students are welcome to help design and build Waterloo’s piece of the Rube Goldberg Machine. The build takes place on campus so if you are on 8-stream or 4-stream with a nearby co-op, come on out! Keep an eye for an email with details in February.

Wonderland Math and Physics Day

ESSCO and Wonderland team up for a day in May for an outreach event to engage high school students in engineering through learning about the science behind roller coasters. ESSCO schools send volunteers to travel around the park with a group of high school students to answer questions, go on the rides with them and explain the engineering background. This event also involves a marble roller coaster contest where students can compete to build a mini roller coaster. This is a fun and exciting outreach initiative by ESSCO that happens just before or at the very beginning of the Spring term.  This means that if you are in 8-stream, this event is at the beginning of your first co-op term after 1B, and if you are in 4-stream, this event takes place at the beginning of your 1B term.  This event is open to all engineering students, details on applying and volunteering will come out in April!

If you have any questions or would like more information about getting involved in ESSCO, check out essco.ca and send them an email at executive@essco.ca, or talk to one of your VP Externals, Heather and Sarah-Rose!