Part I: In the beginning there was the EUSS News. Then came the SNEWS and finally the ENSCQUIRE. I began my n-year journey through Engineering in September of 1991. At this time, ENSCQUIRE was a whole 3 issues old and the first and only Annual Gator Edition had already come and gone. This memorable issue was put out in April of 1991 and I was lucky enough to get a copy of it.
Why was this issue so inspiring to all? Well, it revealed AND analyzed the Meaning of Life. According to reporter Mike Matheson and confirmed by Staff Psychoanalyst Lorenz Freiberg the Meaning of Life can be defined as Penguins, lima beans, and cheese. The rest of this issue paled in comparison to this amazing revelation but the editor still saw fit to add 23 more pages of articles ranging from Polar Plunge '91 (they only raised $850) to the Doodlings of Dennis. [Dennis ... he does cartoons? -Ed.] One other article in this issue reallly stood out. The article was entitled "Why are we here?" and was written by Staff Thinker Dave G. Brown. The topic was on the appeal of Engineering and, well I'll let you make your own conclusions ...
After my arrival in September of 1991, there were two issues released. These issues had a few interesting articles. The most memorable for me was an article summarizing the first annual First Week events. The conclusion reached in this article was that First Week was an astonishing success and that it could only get better. This has definitely been the case and hopefully all of you will be able to help out this summer and fall with the organization and running of First Week '96!
Part III: Three follows one doesn't it? Actually I can count (I learned last semester) and realize that two usually follows three but in this case I do not have any issues from 1992 so I can't talk about it can I? In 1993, The first issue of the year wasn't too dramatic, featuring one article about the Micro-Mouse winning a CATA (Canadian Advanced Technology Association) award, one article about food on campus, and one article discussing whether Labatt Blue or Kirin beer is better (no conclusion was reached).
The second issue of the spring was quite good, featuring an article by Anind Dey (Staff Plunger) about the history of the Polar Plunge. Apparently the mighty charity event was thought up at a Pub Night in December of 1988 by "a few slightly inebriated engineering students." I hope this explains to many of you why we feel compelled every year around Valentine's day to raise money to throw a bunch of perfectly normal..uhhh actually change that to a bunch of engineers...into freezing cold water. Two other articles in this issue were also quite interesting; they were entitled "The Future of ENSC (2003 AD)" by Staff Psychic Brian Hargreaves and "Sleep Patterns of an nth year" by an Unknown author.
This leads us into summer and the Summer '93 issue. What was so special about this issue you ask? Well to the best of knowledge it is the only Enscquire to ever be printed on yellow paper. I'm not sure why this was done but I believe it may have been an attempt to make the paper look larger and thicker. If this was indeed the case the editor's attempt at tricking us failed ... one page of paper (even if it's double sided) just cannot look larger or thicker by changing the color.
In September of 1993, Kevin Cheng introduced us to ENSCYBER. Enscyber was a well drawn but misunderstood comic strip. It did have a lot of potential but alas it didn't last more than a few issues. This issue also revealed the horrifying results of the First Year's Evaluation Exam. The mean grade on this important test was 13.9%; while the top grade was 26.5%. The exam was given to all the First Year's on their first day of classes.
But it wasn't enough to just give the First Years a test that would be difficult for 5 n-th years working together for days to complete. In addition to the grueling exam, Dr. Rawicz and Dr. Jones began "psyching" out the first years while second year student Ben Ko was thrown out of the exam for cheating and Winson Chan, also second year at this point, began to beat his head and hands on the desk becoming so visibly upset over the exam that he had to leave or face imminent collapse.
In October the Ensquire attempted devoting issues to one specific topic. The first topic was "Engineers and War" and contained many good articles about the ethics and challenges of engineering. The next issue was devoted to "Engineers and the Thrill of Creation" which didn't go over quite as well as the previous issue due to lack of articles. The idea of issues devoted to specific topics was a great idea that everyone loved but it, like Enscyber, did not last longer than a few issues.
Part IV: The first four months of this year are a complete blank as I was in Ottawa on co-op and didn't get any issues. The first issue I have of this year is the second issue of summer. The de-bate about the name of the Enscquire was in full swing by this issue. You see, the first issue of the summer was not named 'Enscquire'; it was instead titled the 'Enscquirer'. Needless to say this had not gone off unnoticed and by the next issue the good old Enscquire was back in top form with an article thanking Jim Cavers for his four years of dedi-cation and commitment as Director of Engineering Science. This issue also contained an interview with the new Director, Albert Leung, in which he actually admits to having initially designed the course that has now be-come known as ENSC 222 (The second time through it really IS easier).
The September issue of 1994 was a very important one for somewhere-around-my-year student Erik Minty. This issue contained his first ever ar-ticle. Entitled `Bird on a Wire", Erik describes his harrowing flight from Comox to Abbotsford in a glider. Erik has since gone on to fame and fortune (yeah right...) as editor of the Enscquire. This issue also describes the third annual First Week events and the second part of Shinya Matsueda's article about power napping and how to sleep your way through engineering (the article even had 4 graphs about the distance, availability, comfort and noise level of 10 different sleeping locations around campus). Since I was again exiled to Ottawa for another co-op I was only able to come across this first issue of the Fall.
In May of 1995, the headlines (on page 4) read "The Greatest Election in our History: Morgan Chambers Elected President by a Single Vote." These elections had a turnout of 129 people which was one of the largest totals in EUSS history. Also making history was the e-mail vote. For the first time ever, 19 people (co-ops unable to get to the voting booth) were allowed to vote via e-mail. The competition for each position was fierce. One position tied for votes, one had a difference of 3 votes and the Presidential race was decided by one vote.
The August issue of 1995 featured many great articles. Among them was an article about a juice bottle (apple if you must know) that toured our Nation's Capital, the top 10 reasons to read the Enscquire, and a very hard-to-see picture of Karl Scheffer who shaved the engineering "E" onto the back of his head for the Sun Run.
And once more we are back to the Fall. And Fall means First Week. This year's First Week was the best I have been to and the September issue featured many photos from the week. The two best parts of this issue were the photo of a team inside U.TV studios and (you knew it was coming !!!) the article about Sparky the Squirrel. For those of you who weren't there, Sparky was a member of Team A. Uhh ... actually it was a member of the roadkill family. Sparky was an inspiration to others of its family being used as many different Scavenger Hunt items (I won't list them here). This issue also saw the appearance of Staff Psycho James Kerry's Horoscopes. The final issue of this year that I have featured baby photos of our EUSS executives in a "Guess the Exec" photo contest and the first ever Ensquire Complaints Box. [The complaints box will be reprinted in future issues so that the Ensquire staff can see and respond to your suggestions and complaints more effectively. -Ed.]
The November 1995 issue was the last issue that I have seen as I am once again on co-op but I am glad to have had the Ensquire around for the past 5 years of my school career and hope that it's there for the next 5 years. (The next 5 years of the school not my next 5 years at school.)
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