About a dozen engineers crowded around a table, refreshments in hand, for a friendly game of poker in the Technological Institute’s Jerome B. Cohen Commons as part of the McCormick Student Advisory Board’s Engineering Week. Thursday’s Games Night marked the sixth of the seven-day-long slate of entertainment for engineers and non-engineers.
Engineering Week has been a tradition at Northwestern since 2001 when Ford Motor Co. planned an annual event to unveil some of the company’s newest vehicles to NU students.
“It was basically just showing off engineering to the Northwestern community,” said Michael Leaf, a McCormick sophomore and chairman of the advisory board.
The group later purchased the right to host Engineering Week with funding from the Murphy Society, a McCormick alumni-funded grant, to transform the event into something more meaningful to students, Leaf said.
“(Engineering Week) has shifted gears a bit – we’ve gotten away from just engineering showcases,” he said. “We’re trying to focus more on the students.”
The new student-oriented week also meshes with the group’s goals of advising McCormick students and building a strong, social engineering community, said Benjamin Shorofsky, a McCormick freshman.
“MSAB is here to link McCormick students with administrators, as well as with the student body as a whole,” he said.
The student group’s annual event focuses on hosting social events for engineers in an attempt to better unify all of McCormick’s student groups as well as to increase the engineering community’s presence on campus.
“We’re trying to get us outside of our North Campus bubble and let the rest of the campus know we’re here,” Leaf said, adding that students outside of McCormick are welcome to join in on Engineering Week events.
“Engineering Week is by engineers, but it’s for everyone,” said Gaby Ruiz-Funes, a McCormick freshman.
Group members said they plan to change Engineering Week to a better-funded, more elaborate one-day-long affair next year to honor McCormick’s 100-year anniversary.
A carnival featuring gaming booths run by McCormick’s student groups today in front of the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center, will conclude the week.
“Game night was an event tailored more to engineers, while the carnival will likely reach a larger audience,” Shorofsky said.
