Dude, it's your car!

Graduating engineering students celebrate Kipling

March 27, 2009

It’s as much a sign of spring as seeing the first robin or opening up the patio.  The annual Kipling Ceremony was held on Friday, March 27 marking an annual rite of passage for engineering students who will be graduating this April.

The Kipling Ceremony is more formally called the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer.  During the private ceremony, the student is presented with the engineers’ iron ring, which is worn on the pinkie finger of the working hand.  The Ceremony was established and is administered by the Corporation of the Seven Wardens. 

More than 500 senior students participated in the ceremony, held on campus at the Burridge Gymnasium in the David Braley Athletics Centre.  Some 13,000 students will have graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster since it was established 50 years ago.

Part of the Kipling tradition at McMaster has included the staging of various pranks the night before the big ceremony.  Some of this year’s highlights include a car wedged in an archway behind University Hall, a giant computer screen dangling from the John Hodgins Engineering Building with a dreaded error message, and a repaved walkway used by Engineering Physics for its annual robot-car race days. 
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To find out more about Kipling, the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer, and the iron ring visit:  http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/kipling