Conferences and Competitions

As February begins, it is a busy time in the world of VP-External. Two major events have already happened: the Ontario Engineering Competition and the First-Year Integration Conference. These two events both help develop leadership, networking, and teamwork qualities in Waterloo’s Engineering students.

The Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) took place from January 29-31, and was hosted right here in Waterloo. In total, the combined Waterloo Engineering Societies “A” and “B” sent forty-seven competitors to seven different competitions. The competition categories were Junior Design, Senior Design, Innovative Design, Consulting, Technical Speaking, Parliamentary Debate, and Programming. Every individual competition allows competitors to truly test the skill set of an engineering student. We would like to congratulate everyone who made it to OEC, and were happy to see the following teams the teams place in their respective competitions: Junior Design – Waterloo A (1st), Senior Design – Waterloo A (2nd), Parliamentary debate – Waterloo A (3rd), and Innovative Design – Waterloo A (1st), Waterloo B (2nd, also taking home the award for Technical Excellence). Teams that placed first or second at the Ontario Engineering Competition will move on to compete at the national level in the Canadian Engineering Competition this year, set to be held in Montreal at McGill University in March.

The First-Year Integration Conference occurred from February 5-7, and was hosted by Ryerson University in Toronto. In total, 14 representatives made the trip down the 401, arriving excited and ready to take away new leadership skills and experiences from the conference. Several development sessions took place. The first-year delegates also had the opportunity to network with students from schools across Ontario, making life-long connections with other students. Upon returning to Waterloo, we feel we have 12 first-year students (as well as Ola and Kieran) who have acquired new skills they can use to contribute to the Engineering community in Waterloo and beyond.

Overall, February has been a great month for conferences and competitions where Waterloo showcased its talent provincially. If you have any questions about future conferences or competitions, please email us at vpexternal.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca.