Text by Christine Kalil, ECA VP of sports and Competitions
Every year the Engineering and Computer Science Association (ECA), takes on a huge summer project of planning the next year's frosh activities. All the executives spent numerous hours during the summer slaving over paper work and small details to ensure that all ENCS students would have a proper welcome to the department in 2009. This year special attention was paid to planning various activities that would satisfy everyone's tastes and more importantly could include all students, even those who do not drink. We also wanted to make sure that we actively promoted Concordia engineering in our community by inviting engineering students from other close by universities to our events and by educating our students on the charity work that the ECA does such as ECAid and our two annual blood drives.
The following is a schedule of our 2009 events:
Friday September 4th: Orientation Day for new students
Prior to the date all new students were sent an invitation to the event telling them to show up at 9 am for an entrance exam. Of course as the students later found out it was a fake exam that was used to get as many students as possible to attend. In fact almost 500 students were in attendance.
This day provided an incredible opportunity for new students to be introduced to Concordia by their peers and meet people that will be with them for the majority of their academic careers such as the dean and departmental chairs. The students were also given student-perspective university tours, introductions to the intricacies of the faculties and administration, and survival advice which will allow students to feel more comfortable in their new environment.
After the university tours the students were invited to the Hall building terrace for a BBQ and beer. The beer was even served from a boat bar, which was designed by Jimmy Stabio, a second year mechanical student, and built by a group of ENCS students.
Tuesday September 8th: Breakfast, Gaming Day, and movie night
Tuesday morning started off with a free breakfast of pancakes and fruit served to approximately 50 students in the B-Annex student lounge. Students got the chance to meet some of their peers and socialize with the ECA executives.
From noon until four pm SCS, an association under the ECA which represents software and computer science engineering students, hosted a gaming day in the B-Annex. They set up Xbox consoles and allowed all students to take a turn.
The day ended with a movie night in the B-Annex in which ENCS students were invited to come watch Pirates of the Caribbean, a movie promoting this year's frosh theme.
Wednesday September 9th: Breakfast, Society day, Corn Roast and Comedy for a Cause
Once again the day began with a hearty breakfast served to ENCS students in the B-Annex. The society Women in Engineering co-hosted this breakfast with the ECA to promote their society and the breakfasts they hold throughout the year. Breakfast then led into the set up of society day which took place in the parking lot directly behind the B-Annex and the Hall building Terrace. All 12 of the ECA's societies had tables set up with interactive activities. This was a priceless opportunity for the societies to encourage new students to join. There were approximately two hundred students in attendance throughout the day.
Around four pm the societies started cleaning up their displays and helping in the set up of the ECA's corn roast which was held on the Hall building terrace from five until eight pm. Free corn and dollar beers were served to all ENCS students. There were approximately two hundred and fifty students in attendance.
As the corn roast was winding down setup for the ECA's Comedy for a Cause was beginning in the H-110 auditorium. Tickets were sold for ten dollars and the Special Ops comedy team which consisted of five comedians Bruno Ly, Trevor Forestall, Dan Derkson, Morgan O'Shea and Kris Dulgar performed. The show ran from nine to ten thirty pm. All proceeds from the tickets sold went to ECAid, the ECA's charitable organization. Seventy tickets were sold, and the audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show.
ECAid raises money for a charity of choice by organizing events pertaining to engineering students. The means by which money is raised are $1 beer sales at Reggies during lizard lounges, held every Friday from 5 to 8pm, 50/50 raffles, comedy nights and much more. Last year the ECA donated twenty thousand dollars to the Montreal Children's Hospital foundation and sponsored a miracle hour during their annual radiothon which was aired on Virgin 96, Chom 97.7, and CJAD 800 AM.
Thursday September 10th: Breakfast, Chill at the B-Annex Day, and Pub Crawl
Thursday for breakfast students were served a hearty meal of bacon, eggs, and sausages. As with all the other days plenty of coffee and juice was available as well.
The focus of Thursday was to promote our student lounge in the B-Annex so we hosted a chill in the B-Annex day in which we brought out all the board games available to students, the video games, and the K'nex. We also made sure that all students were aware of the snacks and merchandise that we sell in the B-Annex at very affordable prices. Students were able to buy soft drinks, water, coffee, chocolate bars and t-shirts.
At seven pm we met in the B-Annex lounge to kick off the annual fall Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl included five stops and an after party held at La Boite a Karaoke.
Friday September 11th: Breakfast, Sausage Fest and First Lizard Lounge
Friday started off with another free breakfast for all ENCS students. This breakfast was much appreciated by the pub crawl attendees who were still recovering from the night before.
At four pm setup on the Hall building terrace began for the first Lizard Lounge of the year and the ECA's sausage fest. Normally every Friday Lizard Lounge is hosted by a different one of the ECA's societies at Reggies and dollar beers are available in support of ECAid. This Friday the ECA was hosting and we were serving dollar beers inside Reggies as well as outside on the terrace, where the beer was once again being served from the boat bar. Also available were a free assortment of sausages for all ENCS students. There were approximately one hundred students in attendance.
Saturday September 12th: La Ronde Day
Throughout the frosh week ENCS students had the opportunity to purchase La Ronde tickets for a very low price of twenty dollars. This price also included a free t-shirt.
All students who purchased a ticket met up in the Hall building lobby at nine am and we took off together to take the metro to La Ronde. Approximately forty five students were in attendance.
