Hey first years, welcome to the University of Waterloo and the Faculty of Engineering! You are now a member of one of the best engineering faculties in the world, with a great culture surrounding it, and a society to support it and engage everybody. Hi, I’m Jon Martin, Editor-In-Chief of The Iron Warrior for the fall term. I’m in my 3B term of Civil Engineering and I’m always ready to say hi and start a conversation, so come up and say hi.
First off, as you are currently reading an issue of The Iron Warrior, it makes it immensely easier to explain what it is, mainly by getting that whole pesky “It’s a newspaper” stuff out of the way. The Iron Warrior is the bi-weekly newspaper of the Engineering Society here at Waterloo. The IW (you’ll find we love acronyms at Waterloo) is put together by a dedicated group of engineering students and covers issues on campus and around the world – with a healthy measure of comic relief mixed in there as well. If you want to help out with the paper, there are tons of opportunities, both formal and informal. Want to contribute ideas and maybe write an article every once in a while? That’s great! Come to the meetings and join the conversation. Want to take a more involved role? Come on out and help with layout, proofreading, photography, distribution, advertising and other editor jobs. Or just grab your rollerblades and help us distribute papers across campus; whatever level of involvement you want, we want you to be there. Meetings this term are every Monday at 5:00pm in E2-2349A, so come on out and see what making a newspaper involves. Outside of meetings, feel free to drop by the office and see if somebody is there – chances are there will be – or send us an email at iwarrior@engmail.uwaterloo.ca.
Throughout Orientation Week, meet all the people you can and try to remember at least some of their names, and maybe find some clubs and groups you want to join – hint, hint, The Iron Warrior is awesome. There are lots of opportunities to get involved across campus, and those same groups can greatly help relieve some pressure during those times when you feel a little overwhelmed. I got involved with the IW after seeing the booth at the Student Teams Lunch after Junkyard Wars, immediately started writing articles, started a regular video game column in my 1B term, and am now editor, so get involved and you won’t believe where you will end up in the coming five years.
Another thing to think about during Orientation Week: All of these events that you get to go to are organized and run by students – with tons of help from the University administration of course – so check as many of them out. Orientation week is one of my favourite weeks every year, and I have never missed the opportunity to be a leader. If there is a leader who has made your week great so far, be sure to thank them and say hi again in the coming term. Never hesitate to talk with upper-year students when you see us. We have all been through what you are going through right now, so say hi and get to know people in other years. Come out to Engineering Society meetings and meet even more people who love getting involved and meeting other people. Upper years are also a wealth of knowledge on the courses you are taking, so I advise you to make friends with upper years in your program as well; it has definitely helped me over the years.
Again, welcome to University of Waterloo and the Faculty of Engineering, work hard, play hard, and enjoy the next five years, they will go by before you even know it. You won’t recognize yourself at the end of it, so enjoy every minute.
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