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January: GEER Week 77 Edition
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January 2019
Table of Contents Contents ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 Publications Team ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Party at the Top: The Opening Ceremonies of GEER Week ............................................................... 3 Dodgeball ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Pancake Breakfast ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Scavenger Hunt!.......................................................................................................................................... 8 Canstruction ................................................................................................................................................. 9 Wrangling Engineering Disciplines at the Debate................................................................................11 BOTB ..........................................................................................................................................................13 The ESS Shaping Careers: Career Fair Recap ...................................................................................15 GEER Week Photo Highlights! ...............................................................................................................17 Final Tally! ..................................................................................................................................................28
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January 2019
Publications Team Roanne Andaya Gurbani Baweja Joanna Bibangco Mohammad Abdullah Hashmi Abby Paul Aishwarya Venkitachalam
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January 2019
Party at the Top: The Opening Ceremonies of GEER Week by Mohammad Abdullah Hashmi, First Year Picture the scene: a late night outing with friends and strangers alike on the top floor of the Students’ Union Building filled with shrill laughs, thunderous chants, and a hair-raising vibe overall. If you were there at the RATT on the 14th of January, you know exactly what I’m talking about: The Opening Ceremonies party of GEER week!
That Monday night, when the pressure of the second semester was just beginning to pick up, engineering students flocked to the iconic Room At The Top in SUB to enjoy a relaxing night at the campus bar. From where the party went on, the view of the Edmonton skyline, with the high-rise buildings twinkling against the pitch-blackness of the 10 PM (or maybe 4 PM?) sky was breathtaking. Entering the room from the elevator were large facultyspecific groups proudly hoisting their flag as well as a few small batches of friends and even individuals who came just to enjoy the company of fellow engineering stunts.
Once the party was on, with the explosive music resonating through the airspace, and the relaxing effect of a hearty drink kicking in, the fun-factor began to pick up. People got the chance to make new friends from outside their faculty, learn a little from their seniors, and advise the juniors about how cool their own faculty was! The night was well-spent with all the engineering chants, good music, and even a few arm-wrestling matches. Partying at the RATT on a Monday night might not sound like the best idea for those who have morning classes, but the engineering students who walked out knew that in spite of how late it was, the opportunity to let loose and bring out the party animal inside was definitely worth it.
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Photo: Bronwyn Neufeld
Photo: Bronwyn Neufeld
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Dodgeball by Aishwarya Venkitachalam, Fourth Year Mechanical
Dodgeball! AKA the sport that has probably the most self-explanatory name. It’s a sport that speaks of childhood. A tactic-based, thrilling game which arguably anyone can play, as long as there’s a good balance of introverts and extroverts on a single team. And it’s the sport which all U of A students hold near and dear to their hearts.
What better way to kick off some of the GEER Week festivities on a cold Sunday night than a sweaty tournament of dodgeball in the Education Gym? Ultimately, the first challenge of the night was getting into the building. Thanks, U of A building hours. And who goes to the Ed side of campus anyway? It was certainly new to the majority of the engg crowd.
In the gym, the atmosphere was eclectic; waves of students, decked out in athletic wear and multiple accessories representing their discipline clubs, standing in distinct huddles devising the plan of action to win the coveted first place position. Every game displayed the same cadence: brave students running to the center to claim as many dodgeballs as they can at the sound of the whistle, martyrs sacrificing themselves for the game, and an ultimate fight to the death. Working their way up the tiers all the way to the finals, the First Year Engineering club proved to be the deserving winners of the event. If you ask me, I think the next generation of young engineers have a specialized skillset already. Mec E took second place, followed by Eng Phys. At the end of the night, students were energized for the onslaught of competition to ensue during the week.
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Pancake Breakfast by Roanne Andaya, First Year While GEER Week is meant to promote friendly competition between disciplines, there is always time for camaraderie and free food. The Pancake Breakfast provides the perfect opportunity for both things to occur. Held in the Solarium, the Pancake Breakfast was a success, but when are events with free food otherwise? Not only did it bring engineering students from different faculties and years together, but it also provided a time for students to fondly recap the events of the previous days. At 9 AM, students began to filter in the solarium, eager for food. The grill was on, and the sweet scent of pancakes filtered through the second floor of ETLC. Syrup and hot chocolate were laid out, and as more students began to enter, the sound of laughter filled the room. Volunteers rushed to get the pancakes served to all the guests— and to unplug and plug the burners into every outlet of the room—and soon enough the event was underway. As the hour went on, more guests began to show up, and many in ETLC had a plate of pancakes and a hot chocolate to accentuate their day. Free food is always welcomed in any place, and in this case, it was no different. However, it was amazing to see the excitement everyone had for GEER Week, and as the event filtered down to an end with the last pancake, the competitive spirit remained, ready for the next event.
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Scavenger Hunt! by Abby Paul, Third Year Environmental The GEER Week Scavenger Hunt’s straightforward rules lead to an event that is anything but. Discipline teams have a time limit to seek out items and complete tasks, bringing them back to the judges or providing photo/video evidence as required. Items and tasks have point values assigned to them; the winner is the discipline team with the most points. In their search, discipline teams are limited only by their imaginations and the two most important rules: no driving and no law-breaking. An activity that wouldn’t be out of place at a nine-year-old’s birthday party quickly devolves into a finding free-for-all with teams diffusing throughout campus and the surrounding area. A group of jersey- clad students sprinting down Whyte with craft supplies is a common sight on the night of the Scavenger Hunt. Items and tasks from this year’s Scavenger Hunt included:
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• • • • • •
Money from a different continent Teach a Stranger to Dance Photo with a Great Dane Get a free sample Beyblade Sauna
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Flip phone Photos with people with AirPods MacEwan Apparel Taxidermized animal Oiler’s ticket Tell a professor a bad joke
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January 2019
Canstruction AKA How to Play with your Food, GEER Week Style by Mohammad Abdullah Hashmi, First Year Amidst all the other fun and exciting GEER week events was one which truly symbolised the resourcefulness of our hard-working Engineering Students’ Society. They thought: “Since we have all this canned food to give away, why don’t we use it in yet another clash of the engineering disciplines?” From that thought was born the portmanteau: “Canstruction”.
In the ETLC Solarium, on the 17th of January, we witnessed the making of several exciting towers, shapes, objects, and many more things out of the blessing of tins of food. Members of the ten disciplines gathered together in the Solarium just shy of noon to form their five-person teams and rise above all others in the art of stacking (in as aesthetically pleasing a way as possible, of course)! The rules were simple: each team has a designated time at which they must begin building, and they only have ten minutes to build. Teams would be judged on the stability, creativity and colour combination of their respective structures. Easy work for an engineering student, really.
Once building began, the MinE squad, which had the privilege of going first, quickly began to stack and shape their masterpiece. Other teams formed huddles to discuss what they were going to do in order to crush all others with their aesthetic and structural sense. It was also a great opportunity for teams with not enough members to join forces and create a little bit of harmony in the fierce competitiveness of the GEER Week environment. All the teams created fantastic projects, treating the judges to some truly amazing work like a radio tower, a grave complete with a tombstone and representative flowers (which was followed by a hearty eulogy), a throne for a professor, and even Shrek’s face to name a few of the awesome can structures. As the high noon sun began to sink, the disciplines dutifully picked up and packed the cans for those who needed it more than we do, and shook hands after what was a quite intense competition.
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Photo: Gwyneth Liske
Photo: Gwyneth Liske
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Wrangling Engineering Disciplines at the Debate by Gurbani Baweja, First Year It is rightly said by Margaret Heffernan that for good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument and a debate! In this spirit, a debating competition was made a part of the Geer Week. The debate was held on January 17 at the ETLC Solarium. The debate was a two-and-a-half hour long event wherein various disciplines showcased their persuasion skills. Disciplines debated in teams of two. The motions for the debate were selected by flipping a coin where the winning team was made to support the motion to be debated. Each debate was a thirty-minute long affair. In the first ten minutes, the teams brainstormed their ideas. The first proposition speaker then had to put forward their ideas for four minutes followed by the first opposition speaker. In the same fashion, the second proposition speaker had to debate for four minutes followed by the second opposition speaker. In the remaining four minutes, the opposition and proposition rebuttals took place for two minutes each. Content and presentation style were the key judgement criteria. The final match was between Engineering Physics and Mechanical Engineering where they had to prove that the opposition's discipline is better than their own discipline. With a number of loud and lengthy arguments, each discipline tried to prove that the others’ is better than theirs. While every discipline debated to the best of their debating skills making the debate a very lively event, Engineering Physics emerged as the winner.
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The results of the debates were as follows, with the winning team in green: Topic
Proposition
Opposition
Posting students’ grades publicly will motivate them to do better.
Materials Engineering
First Year Engineering Club
Dating techniques should be taught in school.
Civil Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
The Wii is a superior gaming console to the PlayStation.
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Morse code is a superior form of communication to the walkie-talkie.
Petroleum Engineering
Mining Engineering
The 8th floor of DICE is a better study space than ECERF.
Engineering Physics
Computer Engineering
The DICE elevator is better than the CHEM E elevator.
Engineering Physics
Petroleum Engineering
Engineering Physics is better than Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Engineering Physics
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Battle of the Bands by Abby Paul, Fourth Year Environmental
Engineering students are known for our (supposed) abilities in math, questionable wardrobe choices, and borderline devotion to special graph paper. Musical talent? Not so much. Battle of the Bands is the night where we prove everyone wrong. For this GEER Week event, each discipline strings together a band and dance troupe to compete in the ultimate challenge: getting engineering students to jam so hard that we forget about the assignment due at 11:59 that night. This year’s venue at Union Hall offered plenty of space for audience members to dance (or sway, depending on how confidant they were at that point in the night) to the beat of the live music provided by fellow students.
Photo: Rupert Gomez
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The year’s setlist included: First Year Engineering Club: • • • • •
Electrical Engineering: • •
All Star – Smash Mouth I’m On My Way – The Proclaimers I’m a Believer – The Monkees Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits Top of the World – The Carpenters
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Computer Engineering:
Mining Engineering: • • • • •
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Mining for Coal North to Alaska Millionnaire Gold Digger Diggy Diggy Hole
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Thriller – Michael Jackson Mr. Brightside – The Killers Welcome to the Black Parade – My Chemical Romance What’s My Age Again? – Blink 182
Petroleum Engineering:
Chemical Engineering: • • • • •
Pompeii - Bastille Go the Distance – Michael Bolton from Disney’s Hercules Zero to Hero – Disney’s Hercules Africa - Toto
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Radioactive – Imagine Dragons Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen The Scientist – Coldplay Winter Winds – Mumford & Sons
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Magic Carpet Ride Stuck in the Middle with You – Stealers Wheel Sonny Boy How You Like Me Now? – The Heavy
Engineering Physics: • • • • •
Civil & Environmental Engineering: We Will Rock You - Queen Mr. Brightside – The Killers Fever Shut Up and Dance – Walk the Moon Hooked on a Feeling – Blue Swede
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Materials Engineering: • • • • •
Crocodile Rock – Elton John Down Under – Men at Work See You Later Alligator Do I Wanna Know? – Arctic Monkeys We Are the Champions - Queen
Mechanical Engineering: My Type Are You Gonna Be My Girl - JET Stacy’s Mom – Fountains of Wayne Little Talks – Of Monsters and Men Joker and the Thief - Wolfmother
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Theme from The Office Clocks - Coldplay Long Way to the Top – AC/DC Staying Alive – Bee Gees
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January 2019
The ESS Shaping Careers: Career Fair Recap by Gurbani Baweja, First Year It is rightly said that opportunities don’t happen, you create them. On January 9 and 10 the Engineering Student’s Society worked at creating career opportunities for engineering students as well as the alumni at the U of A by hosting a career fair. Over 70 employers came to the fair with hundreds of career options. Reputed firms like PepsiCo Canada, TELUS, PCL and TransCanada all had booths at the fair. Each company displayed different coloured balloons corresponding to various disciplines like pink for mining, yellow for electrical, red for mechanical etc. to easily advertise which engineering discipline they are looking to hire. For example, about 48 companies had jobs for mechanical engineering, 45 for civil, 20 for computer and five for all the disciplines. Attendees were representative of all levels of study and engineering discipline, including graduate students, alumni, and first years. All attendees were given a sticker corresponding to the assigned colour of their discipline as displayed by the balloons. Students not only from the faculty of engineering or the ESS but also from iGeek volunteered for the event. The fair was successfully directed by Itati Fleites and effectively coordinated by Jonathan Fleet with a couple of teammates. Food for the employers was provided in the ECERF lounge using only reusable dishes to contribute to the ESS’s sustainability efforts. At the end of the fair, the employers were given thank-you cards as a token of gratitude. The team also received positive feedback for the volunteers by the employers. This year’s Career Fair was a success for both volunteers and attendees.
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GEER Week Photo Highlights! Panda’s Varsity Game vs UBC
Tech Display
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Tug of War
Barrel Races
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Toboggan Races
Spelling Bee
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Design Competition
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Beercade: Are You Smarter Than a First Year, Beer Brewing and After Party
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Battle of the Bands
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77th Engineering Ball
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Final Tally!
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January 2019