Col 5 (issue 4 2011, 5 of 2017)
Hey! Just a description of this column: I’m going to be digging down into the older issues of the Iron Warrior to give a little glimpse of the past of the newspaper and Waterloo Engineering as whole. This term, I’m going to review issues from Fall 2011. If you really want, you can get ahead and read them yourself (I would recommend doing this for your classes instead of this column) at http://iwarrior.uwaterloo.ca/
This time, we’re looking at issue 4 of fall 2011, and what looks like the dreaded story of the plaza fire. It started at a nightclub nearby in April 2010, and quickly spread to the optometry clinic, sushi restaurant, candy store, and Mel’s Diner. Mel’s Diner is famous for its cheap breakfast and 50’s diner aesthetic, and it was heartbreaking for the students to see their favourite places go down in flames. At least we have it today, but apparently the story gets weirder. Turns out, there were suspects for those who started the fire. Criminal convictions were made in November 2011 for the fire in April 2010, where two people were convicted for the fire with $4.5 million in damage. The convict only meant to burn down the nightclub, but it still resulted in the loss of many shops in the plaza.
Another campus-wide concern was the following year’s Orientation Week, and it was stated that there would be no Orientation Week shortening or Fall break for that year. It’s weird how far we came along since then, as we’re currently in our pilot for the short Fall Reading Break and shortened OWeek, which has quite concerned some of the students in our population. If you want to read more about this, feel free to read the PCP from issue 3 of fall 2017, which is on the Iron Warrior website.
Speaking of PCP, there was a PCP for and against procrastination. Procrastination brought up some good points about giving yourself a break, improving time management, and that everybody is doing it (don’t lie to yourself). Also, I would like to personally add that procrastination is good for incubating ideas, and allows for a lot of creativity to flow and think about topics. Just don’t do it too much otherwise you won’t be able to implement those ideas in the time between you starting the report and the deadline. The non-procrastination side brought up arguments like having time afterwards to do your stuff, actually learning the material, and doing well in the term. I agree with this too, because I tend to be the person who does their assignments fairly early. Another point mentioned is that it’ll improve your relationship (sex) life. I disagree because even though I do my homework early…well, you get the rest of it.
Finally, there was an article titled, “So you don’t have a co-op job…” which might strike a chord with you 4-stream 1A students (primarily). Tips included: fix your resume, consider volunteering, and don’t give up. Heads up: I took a volunteer research position for my first coop, and I was able to land a sweet coop job for my 2A coop. It gets better. Just work on your resume, hard skills, and soft skills too, and you’ll have a great time working. Even if you do end up volunteering like me, there’s great opportunity to learn a lot, so don’t see it as a bad thing.
That’s the end of the column for the term! Thanks everyone who read this. If you are a future writer of this column and you see this, I wish you the best of luck from the past!
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