For the first time in its history, Concordia led the pack at the Quebec Engineering Games, held at Université Laval in Quebec City over the holidays.

Ten schools competed in the competition, and the Concordia contingent was determined to improve its standing over last year, when they came eighth.

“Our delegation was filled with lots of students who worked hard for the past six months,” said Steven Hartley, the president of Team Concordia. “We arrived at Laval on January 3 with high hopes and lots of spirit and left with tears of joy.”

The Concordia team took first place in two of the five sports events and third in another. In the academic competitions, Concordia came in second. Team members won the chemical engineering competition, and came third in civil engineering.

“The secret to our success was coming in the top five for most events, such as the machine-building and the talent show. We came fourth place in both,” said Hartley.

“The major achievement for our team was winning the participation award. It’s given to a delegation with the most school spirit. When we cheered and sang, we sang to include all the other delegations, and it was these small things that helped us win.

“When the organizing committee at the University of Laval nominated Concordia for the position, every other school pointed to us saying we won it because they all felt that Concordia earned it.”

Hartley said it was “a pleasure and an honour” to head the Concordia team this year, and he wants to thank all the students that helped make it happen: Hakan Kilic (VP Finance), Pierre Said (VP Social), Mike Nimchuk (VP Design/Everything), Laura Gauthier (VP External), Taro Dicks and Jessica Greenberg (VP Machine) and many others.

The team was generously sponsored by the ECA (Engineering and Computer Science Students Association), Marconi, Alcatel, CN, Molson, the Dean of Students, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, Rector’s Cabinet, Konecranes, RG Screens, Dagwoods and Bell Helicopter/Textron.