Though some might say an engineering party consists of one student and one computer, no one can accuse the University's Engineering students of not knowing how to have a good time.
During last week's annual E-Week, Engineering students competed with each other, mingled with faculty and ate to their hearts' content. The Engineering Student Council organized the events, which coincided with National Engineers Week, in order to facilitate bonding and raise money for charity.
The goals of the week were to "get some Engineering school pride going" and "develop a rapport between students and faculty," ESC Treasurer Stavan Parikh said.
Students were divided into teams based on their majors and then competed in various games throughout the week.
One of the highlights of the week was the duct tape competition. In this game each team used 55 yards of tape to suspend a student on plywood walls for as long as possible. After Monday's opening round ended in a tie, a team of computer engineers emerged victorious in Friday's finals.
Students also competed to see who could build a car out of Legos the fastest and who could eat the most Krispy Kreme donuts. The proceeds from the donut-eating event went to charity.
Other events included a paper airplane toss and a scavenger hunt.
Throughout the week, many students sported buttons stating, "Hug me, I'm an engineer."
"Nobody else really does anything like this," said Jake Harmon, a second-year ESC co-representative and one of the organizers of E-Week. "No one else would be this crazy."
Aside from the ESC, other sponsors of E-Week included the Society of Women Engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers and Theta Tau, the engineering fraternity.
"Engineers are often thought of as people who spend all of their time studying," Theta Tau regent Gregory Joiner said. He said a goal of E-Week was to disprove this idea.
"It was our chance to showcase what we do," he added.
Students also tried to involve faculty members in the week's revelry. Faculty members baked desserts, which were sold for charity, and participated in some of the competitions.
Charlottesville Mayor Blake Caravati opened the week's festivities with a speech last Monday.
Harmon estimated 275 people attended Monday's events and around 200 attended each subsequent day.
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