Winter Wonderland ~ Welcome to 2014

Welcome Back & Happy New Year!

Me and “Otis” the Eng Outreach Bear catching
 some winter rays! He’s a great hugger and always
 knows just how to cheer the team up when
we’re hit with any winter blues.

Now that 2014 is upon us, it is time to get back to the books. Term 2 started today and McMaster University is covered in a thick (cold!) blanket of crisp, white snow. I love the way campus looks in the winter: the bright snow on the trees, all the colours of coats, hats, scarves and mittens and the busy crowds of students rushing to their classes. The campus is alive with activity!

January marks the beginning of my second term of my fourth year in Materials Engineering & Society at Mac and I’m really looking forward to my classes. (I’m such a nerd!) But I really enjoy learning and I’m excited that classes are starting up again.


So as I begin the New Year, I’m continuing my work with Engineering Outreach. Christen, Sean, Brandon and I are members of a work-study team: we are able to study full-time while continuing to develop our career skills and gain valuable experience working for the University. Engineering Outreach is here for you if you’re a prospective student interested in finding out more about our programs so that you can choose a University that’s right for you!

Another great part about this time of year is seeing all my friends. It was great to catch up with everyone and hear all the fun adventures my friends had over the holidays. I can feel it; this term is going to be so great!

Until next time, ~ Danielle

Women in Computing & Software: 4th annual ONCWIC conference!

Left to right: Ashton, Natalie, Yassi,
and I before our welcome dinner 

Earlier this month, my friends and I packed our bags and headed up to Waterloo, Ontario for the 4th annual Ontario Celebration of Women in Computing conference. This wasn't my first time- we went as a group last year, and loved it so much we came back! It's an inexpensive conference, and has multiple meals, lectures, and a job fair, so we donned our heels and headed out.

I could easily type glowing reviews of so many of the keynote speakers, and the wit and charisma they brought to their presentations. However, one of my favourites was Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College. A lot of her discussion simply focused on the mindset many females have in academia, and then continue to have while they work in industry.

While they may not reign true for everyone out there, the concepts presented seem to loudly resonate with the 220 women in the room.

Attendees in one of the conference discussions

It starts at an early age.
With technology, young gentlemen love their games. Their love grows to become "I want to be able to build this!" and their passion for Computer Science/ Software Engineering is born. For young ladies, it is more common to find them on social media sites, and their use of the sites rarely translates to a desire to look at, learn, or build their own code.

Then we get into academia.
Our young men like challenges and, without apprehension, they'll dive in. If they don't understand, they'll stay persevering until they do. If they still don't understand, they'll fake it like they do.
Our young women? They tend to be apprehensive with unknown concepts. They may try it, but if they don't succeed, they'll leave it alone. They'll go back to what they know they're good at, and feel comfortable with.

After graduation.
Nearly every established, highly intellectual woman in in industry or academia at the conference admitted to having the "impostor" syndrome. What did this mean? In rough translation, it meant that women will be given a task and immediately think "I can't do this, how will I do this, I'm not ready, I don't know enough". Then they'll finish it. It will be great, and yet still they'll have this "Yesss, I totally fooled them- I still don't know what I'm doing!" mentality, and feel like a fraud... sound familiar?

The fact is, many women are absolutely brilliant- but they doubt themselves. They could grow to leave legendary impressions on the field, but only if they embrace an opportunity to enter it. Maria enforced that there are a few ways we can break through this "impostor" feeling:

Practice what makes you uncomfortable.
Accept self-doubt as who you are.
Surround yourself with support and look back as well as ahead.
Make yourself do the things that terrify you.

For any lady out there interested in coding- don't give up, and don't undermine your own capabilities. For the ladies who have never given coding a chance- give it a try! And you may never know where it will take you: perhaps into a career with one of the best-ranked jobs in the world!

Thanks for reading & check out the conference if you're even remotely interested! It's more than worth it, I promise :)

~ Helen

Fall Preview #1 at Mac!

Last Saturday was our first Fall Preview Open House at McMaster!

Guests in the lobby chatting with students and faculty members

Some of our amazing volunteers that
helped us throughout the day!

Although Mother Nature rained (pretty extensively) on our parade, we still had hundreds of prospective students with their families filtering through our Engineering buildings to listen to information sessions, view departmental demonstrations, take tours, and speak with our faculty members and current students.

One of our many info sessions!

Engineering Physics had a table display
 of graduating student projects

Our information sessions were actually so packed we had to schedule more in! Here are a few pictures from the days events. If you didn't have the chance to come out last Saturday, we're doing it all over again November 16!

That's me.
Remember kids, hydration is important.

Learn more about the November 16th  Fall Preview here:  http://future.mcmaster.ca/tours/visit/fallpreview/

I'm also getting ready for the ONCWIC conference November 9th, so stay posted, and I'll tell you how the Ontario Celebration of Women in Computing conference goes!
http://www.oncwic.ca/

Until next time!
~ Helen

Time for a Break: Volunteering for Fall Preview

Ciao everyone!

You get the chance to meet Mac the Marauder!
L to R: Sheena, Mac & Tony.

Classes are under way and midterms are in full swing. Everyone is busy with assignments, lab reports and essays. So what better time then now to take a break from the craziness of school? I will be taking a well-needed break this Saturday, October 26th by volunteering for McMaster University's annual Fall Preview Open House.

You are probably wondering, "What is this Fall Preview?" Well, it's a campus-wide open house, where high school and their parents get a chance to ask questions and get the answers they need about programs and student life.  

All the Mac Eng Car Team will be at Fall Preview.
L to R: Rich & Alex

There will be campus & residence tours, as well as interactive academic information sessions to attend. The best part is that you can meet and talk to current engineering undergraduate students all about Mac Eng! 

If you are planning on attending this event, please register beforehand.

I'm very excited to be volunteering for Fall Preview and getting the chance to meet future Mac Engineers!  

Until next time,

 ~ Danielle

PS. Campus always looks so beautiful this time of year, will all the fall colours!

Such pretty colours on all the trees!

Get sporty!

Hello out there!

Today I want to talk about one of my favourite things: sports.

Whether it is playing sports, or watching the Marauders go for gold, I am there in a heartbeat.

If you like getting decked out in your school colours and painting your face, come hang out with my spirited friends at the Mac football games! 
This is when we beat Waterloo 66 - 3! #fansofthegame

Throughout high school I played on school teams and city leagues. I don't have the skill to play varsity (the inter-university competitive leagues), but McMaster has me covered with a variety of intramural sports leagues offered throughout the school year. Whether you’re into the classics like soccer or basketball, or are interested in trying your hand at something new, like inner-tube water polo, there are intramural teams for you!

Last fall, my women's outdoor soccer team won the championship! #1
I played keeper.

In addition to the McMaster intramurals, the McMaster Engineering Society has sports teams like rugby and hockey, as well as department competitions like the Ratboy Memorial Soccer Tournament. Ratboy is a day-long outdoor soccer tournament that happens in the spring, just before exams. All the engineering departments face-off on the pitch for ultimate glory and a shiny trophy! New this year are department competitions that happen once a month. In September, the Chemical Engineering department beat the Civil Engineering department at an intense game of soccer-baseball! (As a chemical engineering student, I'm pretty proud :) )

Many first year students ask “can you find the time to play sports with the heavy engineering workload?” and my answer to that is “YES! Absolutely!”. In fact, I think a big part of being strong academically is finding time to do things you love and keeping balance. So join a team, kick a ball around, swim, and give you brain strength to rock those 

midterms!

In indoor, my team made it to the finals and ended up in second after a close match.
 (That's me in the bottom right)

Hope to see you all on the courts or on the pitch!


Later days,
Daniela

ExCELebrate Good Times!

Hello friend!

It's been a very exciting week for McMaster Engineering. On Monday the faculty invited students, faculty, staff and special guests to the campus to learn more about the ExCEL building, our envisioned Engineering Centre for Experiential Learning.

Some of the wonderful ExCEL volunteers (and me at the right!)

It was very exciting. The theme of the event was "Reaching for the Top" featuring a keynote speech from Andrew Brash; a mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest. We aspired to align our vision of the ExCEL building with the notion of overcoming adversity and reaching the top of the mountain. Dean Ishwar Puri also stars in a rock climbing video that introduced the day's events and got more than a few laughs out of the audience!

Since the event was aimed to showcase the engineering student body, they invited the McMaster Engineering Musical to perform.

Mac Eng Musical's presentation

Needless to say we were touched. Thanks to our amazing team of musical members and alumni we were able to put togethera 10 minute presentation about how the ExCEL building will help students grow and develop into well-rounded engineers.  Check out our special presentation here! Dean Ishwar Puri got a real kick out of it :)

Dean Puri also made an amazing announcement. Thanks to generous donations from Gerald Hatch and Kurt Strobele of Hatch Ltd (the Canadian-based engineering giant), we have finally reached our goal of $8.5 million! This means the building can finally start becoming a reality. I may not be around to see it completed, but you know I'll come back and visit.

More talented engineers from Musical!

Not only are things getting started for the ExCEL building, but they are for the Musical as well! Next week we have our auditions to pick our cast and band. I can't divulge what show we're doing just yet as it is highly classified information, but when I can you'll be the first to know!

Alright guys, I gotta run to class. Somehow I "gotta" fit school into all the craziness around here.

Cheers!
~Genna

Superheroes + Pulling a Bus + a Hovercraft = Mac Eng Welcome Week 2013

Salutations my friends!

Could you hear us where you live? Our cheers were roaring this past week because it was Welcome Week 2013! Welcome Week is an awesome opportunity to meet people in your residence (or off campus) and meet spirited upper years at McMaster. 

During the week, there are so many different events you can choose to attend. Everything ranging from academic sessions to a charity casino night! 

I had the privilege of being a Welcome Week representative for McMaster Engineering one last time before I graduate (this was my third year as an Engineering Welcome Week rep, otherwise known as a “Redsuit”). Our goal as Redsuits is to welcome students to the McMaster Engineering family, to help ease the transition from high school to university and to pass on our infectious Mac Eng spirit to the first year students. There are many events throughout the week that the Redsuits are at, but I want to give you the high-lights of some of my favourite moments this week - in pictures!

Alex (the rep in the red suit) is directing traffic during move-in to residences. We then help you move your belongings to your room and cheer to welcome you to McMaster!

McMaster engineers are known for their unbridled enthusiasm, many traditions, and their antics. Paul decided he wanted to join the McMaster marching band during opening ceremonies.

The eager first year students are introduced to our lovely "mascots" Super Plumber and Wonder Plumber on faculty day. After this, they broke off into teams and competed in some crazy Olympics!

On Thursday evening of Welcome Week, after the first day of classes, the Redsuits host Gulliver's Engineering Kickback (faculty night). We take school buses over to Gulliver's Lake Park for an evening of barbecuing, swimming, and inflatables! Here one of our Redsuits takes to the boxing ring to battle a first year student!

In downtown Hamilton there is an iron ring, a commemorative plaque and a time capsule donated by the Hamilton Section of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers near Hamilton City Hall. We head on downtown during Welcome Week to raise money for Shinerama.

Each year, the university raises money during Welcome Week for Shinerama. Shinerama is an organization that raises money for cystic fibrosis research. To raise money, the engineers pull an accordion city bus through the streets downtown in an event called Bus Pull. These are just some of our enthusiastic volunteers!

The bus flashes between "Mac Engineering, Pulling Together" and "To Fight Cystic Fibrosis"

Evidently, Bus Pull is one of my favourite events of the week.

The first year students pull the bus down Main Street while the redsuits tell people passing by why we are raising money and asking if they would like to donate.

After, we trade roles, and the Redsuits pull the bus back down King Street, while the first year students collect money.

On the final day of Welcome Week, there are the annual IRC Bedracers. They are exactly what they sound like, we race beds around a track. Super Plumber and Wonder Plumber proudly lead the charge on our hovercraft bedracer!

After a long tiring week as a Welcome Week rep, you really appreciate your fellow reps. Here we are, on the last day, exhausted, but still unbelievably excited for the coming year with the first year friends we've made! It was an amazing group to rep with for my final year!

Now it's time to gear up for classes....That's all for now folks!  ~ Christen