E-Week starts new traditions

A Celtic rock band played The Blue Note to honor St. Patrick and E-Week.

By Jessi Turnure

Published March 16, 2010

The green lighting of Jesse Hall's dome March 12 signaled the beginning of the 107-year-old tradition of Engineers Week, but with tradition also came some change.

"We try to do things a little bit different each year to make it the best one yet," St. Patrick's Board Co-President Katie Giddens said.

The primary change of the week was the concert March 15, where The Elders, a Celtic rock band from Kansas City, electrified the crowd at The Blue Note, making this Engineers Week's biggest concert yet.

"The Elders is the first free concert for all MU students and the first legitimate band that we have had so far," St. Patrick's Board Co-President Kyle Sellers said. "Usually, we just have local bands perform, but a member of St. Patrick's Board last year spent a lot of time and effort trying to get a big band and even got someone from the school to help finance it."

Last Sunday, groups of students competed for prizes in a number of games including javelin throw, tug-of-war, caber toss and keg toss in the second annual Celtic Games.

Another relatively new tradition is the Shamrock Scavenge, a scavenger hunt followed by Pub Crawl for those 21 and older March 18.

One of the most popular events of the week was the Road Rally on March 13, a citywide scavenger hunt around Columbia. At each stop, a king and queen chairperson made teams participate in a fun event before receiving the next clue. Prizes were awarded for fastest times, most decorated vehicles and most ornately dressed persons.

Engineers Week also hosts events that test participants' engineering skills. These events include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Inc. and Eta Kappa Nu's Faraday Racer Competition, which required students to make racecars from batteries, magnets and loose wires, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineering Egg Catapult, a competition for constructing a catapult that produced the best distance and accuracy.

Other events earlier in the week were the Missouri Engineering Student Council Pie-in-the-Face, the Hot Dog Banquet sponsored by George Butler and the Quiz Bowl Prelims hosted by Tau Beta Pi.

"This entire week is a great way for all engineering students and all other majors to get involved together," MESC member Maren Reinig said. "It is a fun way to celebrate the hard-working engineers on campus and fundraise to enhance the College of Engineering."

The week will close with another popular event and one of the oldest Engineers Week traditions, the St. Patrick's Ball and Casino Night on March 20 at the Hilton Garden Inn. St. Patrick himself will crown the king and queen candidate with the top number of votes as Queen of Love and Beauty and King of Valor and Wit.

The St. Patrick's Board and Engineers' Club sponsored all the events throughout the week, which revolve around St. Patrick's Day to celebrate its patron, St. Patrick.

"Engineers Week shows loyalty and pride to the school," Giddens said. "Other schools at MU should have a week like this too."

Engineers' Week welcomes all majors and members of the MU community to partake of its festivities.

"It's such a big tradition that shows we have responsibility but also like to have fun," Giddens said. "I have participated in Engineers Week since I was a freshman. It makes me wish I was Irish."