Students and faculty from the engineering department met at the Biology Pond on May 10 for an end of semester picnic and initiation into the Guild of Engineering Technologies.

Claudia Koch, a professor in the engineering department, said first year students in the department were not getting a chance to know the outgoing seniors, and they wanted to remedy that.

“Initiation is a rite of passage; if our lower year students have managed to live through all four professors in the lower level courses, they have earned the right to be initiated into the Guild of Engineering Technologies,” she said.

They had to complete an obstacle course of activities to earn their certificates and the right to join the ranks of their upper classmen.

The activities provided the inductees with different scenarios where they had to work together as a team in order to complete them.

Patrick Patterson, head of public relations for the guild, found the initiation to be very rewarding.

“This is great. It’s nice to see the lower ranks coming up,” he said.

Initiate Tommy Graham said he was happy to be a part of the evening’s activities.

“I worked hard for this, but it’s worth it. It’s a great program,” he said.

Following the obstacle course was a potluck style picnic and barbeque that ended in an engineering department tradition: a game of jeopardy between the faculty.

Claudia Koch remains the undefeated jeopardy champion.