2025 Quebec Engineering Games (JDG)

Theme – 1st Place

This year, the theme for the Engineering Games was “L’Unité fait les jeux”. We chose our delegation’s theme to be IKEA, or rather, “CONKEA”. Building innovative products requires unity; not just of
physical parts, but a collaboration of people unified by the common goal of bringing an idea of life. We chose IKEA as our theme because they also strive for this synergistic relationship between people and technology. We received first place for our theme! Check out our submission report below.

Opening Ceremony

Lama Azzam choreographed our opening ceremony dance. Gloria Anastasopoulos mixed the music. We built a table and chair on stage, donated to us by IKEA. It was very generous of them and definitely made our show stand out!

Entrepreneurship – 3rd Place

This year the entrepreneurship team created a start-up that collected discarded cigarette butts and turned them into plastic to be used in products. The team conducted chemical experiments with a professor at Concordia to develop the compound that breaks down the cigarette butts. They received excellent feedback on all of their reports and wowed the judges with their pitch, earning them third place in this prestigious category.

The team was led by Marie Nielsen, VP Entrepreneurship. She pitched the product at the competition alongside Mehnu Mahapatuna and Ashley Samerev. The core team also included Victor Brisson, Zeynep Ozcan, Liam Roskies, and Nicolas Christofidis.

Trivia – 2nd Place

Our trivia team this year was fire. It was Vinuyan Sivakolunthu, Bella Walter, Connor Lucas, and Liam Roskies.

La Majeure – 2nd Place

This year the challenge for La Majeure was to create a robotic solution to collect and drop off ping pong balls at different heights efficiently and in a specific order. Our design impressed, and we received 2nd place.

This year’s team included Camille Granade (5th year COEN), Alexandre Giroux (3rd year MECH), Joshua Vilda (2nd year software), Gloria Anastasopoulos (5th year MECH), and Klisea Plaku (1st year software), and Martin Goher (1st year MECH).

Electrical Engineering – 3rd Place

This podium came as a welcome surprise, because our electrical engineering team had only two students studying elec, both just starting their first-year classes.

The theoretical team consisted of Mehnu Mahapatuna, Mauricio Murillo, and Marian Hristov. The theoretical team was Louis-Charles Penelle and Jared Taylor. Awesome job!

Social Consciousness – 3rd Place

Year after year, the Quebec Engineering Games places high value on sustainability and giving to the community. The social consciousness award is based on the sustainability of a delegation’s merch, their transportation, and their acts of charity.

This year, we chose to spend a little more of our budget to order our team merch from ethical supplies and be made from recycled materials. We also walked or took the metro to most of our events. When we needed to drive to pick up equipment, we often coordinated with other engineering societies at Concordia to save time and gas. For our acts of charity, we did two clothing drives, volunteered at our school’s iron ring ceremony, and kept our annual tradition of volunteering for Nez Rouge Montreal.

Debates – 4th Place

Our debate team deserves an honorable mention for their success. Seif Bedair and Elsa Younes soared past all expectations when they kept racking up wins. Seif did not understand French, and Elsa had never debated before, but thanks to Seif’s carefully crafted arguments (and smooth compliments to the timekeeper) as well as Elsa’s rapid-fire translations and clever rebuttals, they fought their way to the semi-finals.

Machine

This year, the machine challenge was to build a robot to pick up passengers on a multi-terrain course. The robot had to be able to navigate sand, steep inclines, tight corners, and even function in water!

The team decided on a “go big or go home” design that involved releasing multiple mini robots from a parking garage to maximize efficiency. Although difficulties arose at the competition, the solution was impressive nonetheless. The team was proud of what they accomplished.

The on-stage presenters were Camille Granade and Alexandre Giroux, Co-VP Machines, Joshua Vilda, and Vinuyan Sivakolunthu. The core Machine team also included Marian Hristov, Martin Goher, and Klisea Plaku.