Engineering Awards Dinner

The Annual UCLA Engineering Awards Dinner was held this year on Friday, November 6th. This event takes place every year in the beautiful Beverely Wilshire hotel. Due to our reputation as a very professional student group, SWE is the only engineering student organization that is asked to help out at the event every year. It is a most prestigious gala with tickets at $300 a person, so it is a great honor for SWE to always be involved.

Volunteers arrive early to help greet attendees and register people. Everyone is dressed in fine cocktail attire while volunteers are required to wear conservative yet dressy clothing. As volunteers, we were also invited to stay for dinner after our pre-event duties were fulfilled. There were many professors and alumni, as well as company representatives and UCLA sponsers. Before the event officially began, people socialized at the open bar and were served hors d'oeuvres such as bite-sized spring rolls and steak pasteries.

Finally, the five-course dinner started at 7pm. On the menu was a pear and walnut salad, creamy mushroom soup, a fish fillet and steak entree, as well as coffee and a rich chocolate dessert. After dinner, awards were presented and there were a variety of speakers including Engineering Dean, Vijay Dhir, and UCLA Chancellor, Gene Block. Also, a special guest was NASA Astronaut, Megan McArthur, a UCLA alumnus from the class of 1993.

The evening finally wound down at around 10pm, and everyone headed home after a long night.

Jackie Koo

Historian