Getting a Waterloo Engineering degree involves a lot of hard study. But it’s not all work and no play.
Dylan Ellingson, a second-year mechatronics engineering student, and alum Aarchit Gupta (MMSc ’19) discuss some of the many fun Faculty traditions that bolster camaraderie and build a valuable sense of community. One that always brings a smile to the faces of students and alumni is Engineering Day.
Launched in 2016, Engineering Day’s mission is simple: to give students a few hours off from classes to have some fun in the sun. Working with the Waterloo Engineering Society (EngSoc), the official student council representing the student body, the Faculty organizes the event in July each year. Hundreds of students flock to line up for burgers, paint themselves purple and drop professors in the ‘dunk tank.’
Ellingson described the day with enthusiasm.
“We’re outside, all together, the music is loud, there’s purple everywhere — in the air and all over our skin, clothes and hair — there’s free food and swag, and the dean is cheering us on. The atmosphere is electric.”
Gupta works as a project lead at Yelp and remembers Engineering Day with a big grin.
“It was so different to the academically focused Engineering Day at my university in India,” Gupta said. “Waterloo Engineering Day encourages fun, fun and more fun. It's such a simple yet effective way to help students let off steam and unite as a group. I made new friends that day who are still my friends. I also felt enormously proud to be an Engineering student.”
New traditions are also being introduced. The Engineering Pin Day launched in 2023 to inspire students’ commitment to community, responsibility, innovation and excellence in their studies and future work, while The Chall-ENG-e pits different Engineering departments against each other for some friendly sporting competition.
Both add to the Faculty’s impressive body of traditions that span decades and encourage students to be their best — and have fun too.
Go to Sharing in the good times for the full story.