BY JOCELYN WESTWOOD & STEPHANIE DAOUST
APEGGA Student Columnist
University of Alberta

The start of winter semester is a busy time for University of Alberta engineering students as they navigate new schedules, buy textbooks and lab manuals. But the second week in January marks one of the most exciting weeks of the year – Geer Week.

With the preparation done in the first semester, all disciplines are ready to compete against each other for the title of Geer Week champions.

The week kicks off with a tech display. This year’s event location was TELUS World of Science – Edmonton. Every discipline put together a display and business at the student-run booths was hopping. Visitors viewed demonstrations and asked questions.

Future engineers showed off their technological savvy with displays that included posters, lasers, models of oil derricks, bridges and even a formula-style race car.

Other Geer Stuff

Our TELUS event was a great start, but lots of other action captured the attention of students – a floor hockey tournament, Battle of the Bands, Are You Smarter Than a First Year, a design competition, a scavenger hunt, a movie night and the Engineer’s Ball.

The floor hockey tournament gets engineering students away from books and into the gym. Battle of the Bands showcases musical prowess, proving students are a multi-talented lot.

In the design competition, students have a chance to show off their engineering skills in a competitive – and of course friendly – atmosphere. Are You Smarter Than a First Year is modelled after the game show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. It tests students’ memories of their first-year classes. Not an easy task for fourth-year students!

Geer Week is an excellent way for engineering students to connect with peers in other disciplines allowing them to show off their non-engineering related talents.

Students Meet
Cross-country Peers

The annual Canadian Federation of Engineering Students Congress is a weeklong event, held at the beginning of January. This year’s host was McMaster University, Hamilton.