Engineering Students Societies’ Council of Ontario

The Engineering Students Societies’ Council of Ontario (ESSCO) is an organization that facilitates communication between all the engineering societies in Ontario. ESSCO represents approximately 24 000 engineering students at 15 universities across the province. ESSCO is the liaison with the PEO (Professional Engineers of Ontario), OSPE (Ontario Society of Professional Engineers), and CODE (Council of Ontario Deans of Engineering). The best way for ESSCO to do this, is to gather input from the engineering undergraduate students through their Engineering Society Vice President Externals. ESSCO then gathers with the VP Externals at each school to gather ideas, and bring them forward to these organizations with the purpose of bettering student life in engineering.

ESSCO hosts conferences every year, where engineering students like from across Ontario get together, enjoy stimulating discussion during sessions, and have a lot of fun. These conferences include:

• First Year Integration Conference (FYIC) is attended by first year students and it’s goal is to introduce students to ESSCO in a fun and enjoyable way. This year FYIC is being held at the University of Guelph in February.
• President’s Meeting (PM) is for the President and Vice President External from each school. They meet and discuss how the year is going. ESSCO PM is being held at York University this year in September.
• Annual General Meeting (AGM) is the meeting to elect the next year’s executive, and set the direction for the new executive in the coming year. This year ESSCO AGM is being held at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in May or June.
• PEO Student Conference (PEO-SC) is run by the PEO and ESSCO to promote engineering to the public and promote the P.Eng licence. This year PEO-SC is being held at the University of Toronto in November.

These conferences are one of the main means by which ESSCO gathers valuable student feedback from its member schools. Students who feel that they can contribute ideas, or take back suggestions and help better the education and experience at their school, are encouraged to attend conferences and participate in the many valuable sessions and activities.

For those students who wish to participate in ESSCO and engineering outreach in a different way, there are the several initiatives that ESSCO runs annually. These include:

• Wonderland Math and Science Day is when 30 volunteers from across Ontario go to Canada’s Wonderland in May to help high school students with physics and math questions based on the design of the coasters at the park. The day includes a free pass to Wonderland for all volunteers, and the opportunity to show students the fun aspects of engineering design.
• National Engineering Month Rube Goldberg Project is held during Ontario’s Engineering Week, and each school builds their own Rube Goldberg Machine in conjunction with high school students from the area. Each machine triggers the next school’s machine via internet or cell phone signal, and the final product is one long machine that goes across Ontario. For a demo, search “ESSCO Rube Goldberg” on YouTube
• Engineers For the World Article (E4TW) is an article about famous, accomplished or inspiring engineers, written by undergraduate engineering students. The article is printed monthly and shipped to several high schools across Ontario. Looks out for the article submission contest in September or October.