Camosun College is home to a brand new student club this year—the Society of Extraordinary Engineering Machines. The group is composed of student engineers who decided they should create a student club where they can mingle and come up with fun ideas related to their interests.
“There are two engineering programs at Camosun—the Engineering Bridge and the Engineering Transfer,” says club leader and first-year University Transfer student Derek Smith. “The Engineering Bridge is almost completely at the Interurban campus, so we have just a small group of us, and it’s kind of hard to talk to other people when nearly all the people you associate with and the people in all of your classes are engineers in the transfer program.”
Smith has worked on a variety of personal projects in the past, including building cars. However, the group’s goal isn’t to build a vehicle; rather, it’s something ripped straight from the pages of a history book.
“Basically what we have been doing is kind of developing plans for different models of trebuchets [a medieval siege engine, similar to a catapult]. We’re throwing golf balls and water balloons,” says Smith. “The golf balls are for our competition, so we can see whose trebuchet is the best, and the water balloons are just for fun.”
Smith says that the group is definitely open to having more members.
“We have 15 signed up on our group list right now, but I can submit more—that wouldn’t be a problem—and we’re totally willing to take on more people,” he says. “This club is still relatively new, so we have a lot of room for new membership.”
Camosun student Struan Eamer is also a first-year University Transfer student; Eamer came up with the original idea to create the group.
“This is my first official year of engineering, but it has always interested me,” says Eamer. “I’ve always enjoyed the designing and building aspects of it. Even when I was a kid I enjoyed tinkering, and I’d try taking things apart and then reassembling them.”
Eamer welcomes newcomers to the group, saying that it’s not necessarily a club just for engineering students.
“Derek has a history of modifying cars, and I’ve got a couple motorcycles and cars that I’ve fixed up,” says Eamer. “I’ve built catapults and slingshots, but I’ve never built a trebuchet before, although I guess that’s kind of the fun part, figuring it all out. The group isn’t exclusively for engineering students; if anyone else is interested, it would be awesome to get more people involved for next term.”