Lassonde Engineering Society sees three teams move on to compete in national competition

In November, the Lassonde Engineering Society hosted the York Engineering Competition (YEC), one of the largest student-run, engineering competitions in Canada. The event hosted over 250 student participants across three weekends, tasked with working in teams to solve an open-ended challenge over the course of six hours.  

The winning YEC teams headed to the Ontario Engineering Competition last weekend at McMaster University in Hamilton, to compete against top teams from other Ontario-based engineering schools. 

Four of Lassonde’s seven teams placed in the top three positions and of those, three will be going on to compete nationally at the Canadian Engineering Competition this March at the University of Waterloo.

The teams include:

• Programming (2nd Place): Julia Paglia, Shawn Verma, Josh Abraham, and Amer Alshoghri
• Senior Design (2nd Place): Michael Tabascio, Konrad Kaczor, Chandler Cabrera, and Jacob Samson
• Re-Engineering (2nd Place): Koroush Toghrol and Emily Secnik
• Debate (3rd Place): Erin Corrado and Aryaman Doctor

“As a student, it’s all about learning at these competitions and there are no repercussions if something goes wrong. It provides an outlet for students to expand their knowledge and also have a lot of fun,” says Lassonde Engineering Society President, Emily Secnik.

Lassonde Engineering Society Faculty Advisor and Assistant Professor Jeffrey Harris describes these competitions as, “an intensive form of experiential education. Students learn to experiment, fail quickly, and learn from their mistakes so they can improve their designs. In the process, they build camaraderie and develop an identity as an engineering student.” 

For more information on the Canadian Engineering Competition please visit the website.