The Waterloo Engineering Society (EngSoc) is the student organization that represents and hosts events for the Faculty of Engineering. They organize anything and everything, from the job fairs and networking events, to the lettuce eating and milk chugging competitions on campus. I recently had the chance to interview Vice President of Communications Celia Evans to learn more about what it means to be a part of EngSoc.
Q: Could you give us a brief overview of what EngSoc does?
EngSoc has three main pillars: Advocacy, events, and student services (including P.O.E.T.S, the CNDs, renting equipment, printing, etc). The events EngSoc organizes are very diverse. We organize athletic events, networking events, resume critiques, workshops, and social events. One of the events we have coming up is a rage room. It’s scheduled for after midterm week and will be off campus at a licensed rage room.
Q: As VP Comms, what are your responsibilities?
As Vice President of Communications, I oversee all internal and external communications – internal communications being our advertising, our media, etc., and external being things like representing us at the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES) and the Engineering Student Council of Ontario (ESCO). I advocate on behalf of the students at many conferences throughout the year.
Q: What are some things you’ve learned from being a part of Eng Soc?
My project management skills have never been better. I am the leader of a rather large team, and I oversee a lot of things. I would say that my leadership skills have improved and my communications have also never been better. Multitasking and prioritizing tasks is also one of the tasks I improve on the daily; it’s a lot of work as a vice president with so many tasks, but at the end of the day, you get done what you can get done.
Q: What’s your favourite part about being VP Comms?
My favorite part is meeting so many different, cool people. On the external side, I meet with all of the other VP Externals from every other engineering society across Canada, and going to these conferences is one of the best opportunities. Everyone has such different perspectives and experiences, which are just so invaluable to learn from.
Q: Why should someone join EngSoc?
So many students are so focused on co-op and academics, and all of the important things in life – which is fair – but everyone needs something to do other than burying themselves in their studies. Participating in EngSoc – starting by coming to the meetings and events – is just a fun thing to do on campus. You make so many friends and connections that you really can’t get anywhere else. University just wouldn’t be worth it without having fun at random little events like these.
Q: How can students join EngSoc?
It’s very easy to join EngSoc. So many people have told me, “Oh, I’ll never join EngSoc” but I find a way to get them involved in a way that they find fun. You can be one of your cohort’s EngSoc reps, where you represent your cohort at council, which is one of the more front-facing ways to get involved. On the back end, we have directors and commissioners. The commissioners oversee many different directors. And the directors specialize in specific tasks; they’re out little busy bees in the hive of EngSoc. We have anyone from graphic designers to the people to help organize the semi and plan for the Waterloo Engineering Competition. We have a lot of things to do and many hands make the events work, so if you’re ever interested in participating, we will never say no.
Q: What upcoming events would you encourage students to participate in?
Coming up, we have our Waterloo Engineering Competition. Everyone can participate, whether it’s Junior Design, Senior Design, Consulting, Programming, or something else; there’s a competition for everybody. You can really put your skills to use. The winners go to the Ontario Engineering Competition (which will be held at Carleton University) and then, if you do well, to the Canadian Engineering Competition (which will be in Quebec). Our school usually does extremely well so I would encourage everyone to join. It also looks good on LinkedIn, if that’s something you care about.
In Junior Design, you would generally build something based on a prompt, and it’s tailored to be slightly easier for incoming students. Senior Design is where you would have to program, design, and build a full robot (or whatever the prompt needs you to do). Consulting is where you present a solution to the proposed problem and the Programming is exactly what it sounds like. There’s lots of different activities to go around.
Generally, The competition is done in groups of 2-4. Registration will be put out very soon so make sure to check our Instagram regularly: @uwengcomp.
Q: Thank you so much for all the info! Do you have any closing notes for us?
Come join EngSoc guys!!
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