What a semester! It’s amazing to think that first year is already over, but I’ve had the time of my life, experiencing so many unbelievable things! To start off, at the beginning of the semester I selected my discipline of study. I will be entering the Engineering Chemistry Program next year: a mixture of theoretical chemistry and chemical engineering, and am really looking forward to it.
In terms of academics, I have learned so much this year! The most rewarding course was definitely my Engineering Design Course, where we were put into groups and assigned a real client and project. My team’s project was a Programmable Solar Powered Sign: I absolutely loved working with everyone, and it was really neat to have a real life hands-on experience, and see a finished result after its designing and construction!
I continued to stay involved this semester, and was lucky enough to be one of two first year engineering students from Queen’s to attend ESSCO’s First Year Integration Conference. This was a three day conference where engineering students across Ontario gather to talk about certain issues at our schools, and develop leadership skills to take on more prominent roles over the next years. It was incredible to meet such like-minded people from all over the province! It was held at Carleton, during Ottawa’s Winterlude, so we were also lucky to engage in the culture, such as skating on the Rideau Canal, and looking at the fantastic ice sculptures. It was truly an amazing experience.
I was also still a member of my First Year Engineering Executive. My main job this semester was to organize a First Year Engineering team for Queen’s Weekend Intramural Sports Tournament (BEWIC). My team of 30 got to play unique sports, such as Rugby-Basketball, Water Volleyball, Innertube Waterpolo, and Floorball. It was really cool to bring some of our year together to relieve stress and just have fun! This semester we also organized a BBQ/Slacklining Exam Relief Event, and a movie night.
This summer, I am staying in Kingston, and am fortunate to be working as an Asphalt Research Assistant under a professor and graduate students. I am helping collect data for their thesis, and I also have my own project to shorten the testing protocol, for determining low temperature cracking properties of asphalt.
After such a crazy first year, I cannot wait to see what second year holds!