WiCS Orientation is a welcome event for first-year students to learn how to improve their university experience, learn how to help themselves advance in their careers, and to cultivate a network of friends and allies — people to study with and play with; who can provide advice in good times and in bad; who can refer them to opportunities or to their connections.
As women+, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people in tech, it is especially important to have a network of technical peers whose experiences are like one’s own, who have similar interests and goals, and with whom one can vent frustrations and celebrate successes.
This year, Orientation will be on September 9th, 2023!
WiCS Orientation 2023 Schedule
Time |
Topic |
Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 2:30 PM EST | Joanne Atlee - Director of WiCS, Professor of Computer Science / Software Engineering | |
| 2:50 | Challenging yourself |
Chunxin Zheng - 2nd-year Computer Science |
| 3:00 | Time management + Notion + Google Calendar |
Emily Zhang - 2nd-year Computer Science |
| 3:10 |
Health (balancing, mental health, community) |
Areena Akhter - 5th-year Computer Science |
| 3:25 | Navigating Transportation in Waterloo |
Skylar Ji - 2nd year Computer Science |
| 3:35 |
Q&A |
|
| 3:45 |
SNACK BREAK |
|
| 4:15 | Navigating Co-op Applications |
Amanda Bishop - 4th-year Software Engineering |
| 4:25 |
Navigating the co-op term (co-op reviews, making the most of the experience) |
Dora Su - 4th-year Computer Science |
| 4:35 | Building a good Resume |
Ashnoor Kaur Randhawa - 2nd-year Computer Science |
| 4:45 |
Co-op Q&A |
Amanda, Dora, Ashnoor |
| 4:55 | Networking |
Nina Tan - 4th-year Computer Science |
| 5:05 | Side Projects - what are they, why they are useful, and how to get started on one |
Rebecca Zhou- 3rd-year Computer Science |
| 5:15 | Getting involved in Extracurriculars | Grace Feng - 3rd-year CS |
| 5:25 |
WiCS undergraduate committee -- what we do, what resources are available to the students, getting involved with WiCS |
Claudia McComb - 2nd-year Math/CS Maryam Afshar - 3rd-year CS |
| 5:35 | Q&A | |
| 5:45 | DINNER + Panel on What I Wish I Knew In First Year |
Here is an example of a previous year's schedule:
Orientation 2022 Schedule:
Time |
Topic |
About |
Speaker |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2:30 PM EST | Introduction - WiCS | What is WiCS- why do we do what we do, and why it is important! | Joanne Atlee - Director of WiCS, Professor of Computer Science |
| 2:50 | Portals |
Learn about student websites and platforms from the school (Quest, Learn, Portal, etc.), essential websites (course schedules, course outline browser etc.), and some external websites (like UWFlow). |
Khloe Ramdhan - 2nd-year Computer Science BBA |
| 3:00 | Organizing Term w/ Notion |
Learn about Notion! how to use it alongside your syllabi, input tasks and stay on top of the workload at university! Plus get a QR code to a custom notion template! |
Claudia McComb - 2nd-year Computer Science |
| 3:10 | Side Projects | All about side projects; what are they, why they are useful, and how to get started on one + examples! | Anjali Gupta - 3rd-year Computer Science |
| 3:20 | Mental Health | All about mental health and why it should be your number one priority throughout your university career. | Yi Lin li - 2nd year BBA + BMATH & Shriya Kulkarni - 2nd-year Computer Science |
| 3:30 | Recovering From Failure | Listen to the personal experiences of a UW student in her journey of failing courses, not getting a co-op, and the importance of mental health. | Yzabelle Perez - 2nd-year Computer Science |
| 3:40 | Snack Break! | N/A | N/A |
| 4:30 | How to Get Your 1st Co-op | Learn about navigating your first applications, resumes, cover letters and interviews! | Dora Su - 3rd-year Computer Science |
| 4:50 | How to Succeed in Co-op | Learn about navigating your first co-op term, and how to get good reviews and a good experience. | Athena Liu - 4th-year Computer Science |
| 5:00 | Imposter Syndrome | Learn about calibrating one's progress against more experienced peers without feeling demotivated! | Anneliese Wen - 5th-year Computer Science |
| 5:10 | Clubs | Learn about what UW has to offer with its types of clubs (athletics, for fun, career-related, other skills, design teams). Plus learn how to connect with a club! | Chang Liu - 4th-year Computational Math |
| 5:20 | Little WiCS | Learn about the WiCS undergraduate committee; what we do and what resources are available to the students! + Getting involved with WiCS | Kitty Li- 3rd-year Computer Science |
| 5:30 | PANEL | Join 5 Women in CS to discuss their first-year experience, co-op, classes, + a live Q&A Session! Get all of your burning questions answered! |
Panellists: 1. Hanya Sakr (2nd-year SE) 2. Angel Liu (2nd-year CS) 3. Amanda Bishop (3rd-year SE) 4. Nada Elhossiny (2nd-year CSBBA) 5. Aastha Kotecha (2nd-year Math) |
| 6:00 - 7:00 | Dinner! | N/A | N/A |