New Year New Prez

Introductions first! My name is Rachel Malevich, I’m in 3A Chemical Engineering, and I’m the new B-Society President! For the entirety of my first year, I knew nothing about the Engineering Society. You wouldn’t expect to hear that from a President, but it’s true. I didn’t want to get involved in first year because school was (still is) hard. In 2A, I decided I wanted to at least do something, so I ran EngSoc’s Resume Critiques, Interview Skills, and the Cover Letter Writing Workshop, not because I was passionate about EngSoc, but because I saw a need for change. I reflected on my first year, and the times I attended the Resume Critiques, and thought to myself, “yea, I CAN make that better”. This passion for change, and my falling in love with the Engineering Society this past year resulted in my Presidency, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I hope that this reaches those of you who wonder what the benefits are regarding getting involved with the Engineering Society, and that you’ll make the effort to attend Council Meetings this term, or to shadow a directorship. It’s never too late to get involved and inspire change.

This term is bringing a lot of exciting changes to the Engineering Society. I’ve got two large initiatives coming out of my portfolio that I’m really pumped about. The first is EngSoc’s partnership with UW MATES (Mentor Assistance through Education and Support), a peer mentorship program for trained engineering students to talk to their peers about mental health related issues and getting adjusted to Waterloo/engineering life. The pilot program is operating with 6 volunteers from engineering and we’re hoping to expand in the future. A page for MATES in Engineering under Resources>Mental Health on the EngSoc website is coming soon, so stay tuned! My second big initiative this term is the development of the Professional Skills portfolio offered by EngSoc. This includes technical workshops with Google, in addition to online resume and cover letter resources. I have two fantastic teams working to put these two initiatives into action!

I will also be addressing some smaller internal items this term, like keeping our Governing Documents updated, developing a new Communications Guidelines for Executive, creating a Document of Stances for the Society, and improving the election voting method in time for the 2017 elections! If you have any questions, I encourage you to email me at president.b@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca, or to stop by the Orifice (CPH 1327) and Society hosted events to chat! Thanks for electing me B-Soc, and I’m excited to create change with all of you!