The StFX Engineering Society recently won the first ever Atlantic Tournament, hosted by the Atlantic Council of Engineering Students (ACES), competing against all other Atlantic universities, including some schools that are 16 times its size.
The tournament was a social media-based competition with a series of fun but competitive tasks, including a mannequin challenge video seeking student and professor participation. These tasks were voted upon widely.
“The Engineering Society here at StFX continues to grow and flourish, and winning the Atlantic Tournament shows how dedicated the students in engineering here are and that we can accomplish big things even though we are such a small school compared to the others,” says second year engineering student Selina Blois, who was able to attend the Engineering Leadership Summit—where the award was presented—along with fellow engineering and physics student Kevin Bronson.
“I felt very proud of everyone who participated. We are small, but we can do big things.”
Ms. Blois says the tournament was also a great way to create engagement within StFX and to have first year StFX students become involved with the society and get to know upper year students.
Maddie Farr, a second year engineering student, said the tournament also allowed the StFX engineering society to get involved with other Atlantic engineering societies and to demonstrate their spirit. “As such a small society, of the second smallest program in Canada, it was a great accomplishment to not only compete with larger engineering societies but also win. It was a great demonstration of the sense of community amongst the StFX engineering students.”
Ms. Farr says it was also a great way for students to get together outside their academics.
WORK TOWARD COMMON GOAL
StFX engineering professor Dr. Brittany MacDonald-MacAulay says this tournament has shown that StFX’s engineering students can come together as a team toward a common goal, representing the university positively.
“I am so proud to know these students and to see how respectfully they handled this competition, along with seeing the growth in the society and participation in conferences. Being able to support them in this has been enriching, and until you’re directly involved with the students, you can’t fully understand how much potential there is. There was more to this than fun social media challenges; there was an opportunity for discussion on ethical conduct, inclusion, and fostering a sense of community,” she says.
“While we host the diploma program here at StFX, our students are making an impact, especially when supported by the university. You can see that they are passionate about being more involved in representing their university and pursuing opportunities for personal and academic development. It was fantastic to see Father Stan enthusiastically join us in showing university spirit for one of the competition submissions, (StFX Electronics Workshop Manager) Craig Seaboyer directly took part in creating the final mannequin challenge submission, and (chemistry professor) Dr. Gerry Marangoni provided the students with his guitar which became a focal point in the final video.”
Tyler Cook, a fourth year StFX engineering and physics student, says the competition was hosted by ACES to increase engagement amongst engineering societies. Nine teams competed through three rounds.
Each round saw teams compete against another school, with a final mannequin challenge.
The competition was meant to involve as many people as possible, and StFX certainly had terrific representation. Out of a total of 79 engineering students, the university had about 40 to 50 students compete between all three challenges.
“It was a huge amount of participation from our entire department,” says Mr. Bronson.
He says the win certainly helped StFX’s reputation, in that they could rally so many students and showcase the spirit at the university. The event also made first year students more aware of opportunities available, he said.
Mr. Bronson says the StFX Engineering Society is in a fortunate position as everyone is so close, and the department is interconnected and friendly with the other sciences. He says the small class sizes and the ease of ability for students to speak with their professors really makes the department stand out.
As a smaller program, he says they don’t often have the resources that are available at larger universities, where other engineering societies are able to send multiple people to conferences such as those held by the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students. These events are important as they provide opportunity to connect with peers at other schools, possible future co-workers, and to learn and develop skills, he says. Having more students at these sessions also allows for more information to be brought back to the rest of the engineering students and department.
Mr. Bronson says participating in the recent Atlantic Tournament has already greatly increased engagement with other engineering societies as well as other campus departments and partners. “This event has been amazing for outreach with our own students and building a relationship with the other societies.”
Ms. Farr thanked all those who supported the students, in particular Dr. MacDonald-MacAulay. “We wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this without the help of faculty.”
