Convocation 2014

Congratulations to the graduating class of 2014.

This week 24 undergraduate and 3 graduate students walked across the stage in War Memorial Hall to receive their degrees in B. Comp. or B. Soft Eng. from the School of Computer Science.

Andrew Halligan, who was in the B. Comp. co-op stream, was awarded the Governor General's Silver Medal for achieving an overall average of 96.75%.

We asked Andrew about his time at Guelph and this is what he offered: "The thing I enjoyed most about my time at the SoCS would have to be being surrounded by like-minded individuals. It is great to be able to bounce ideas off of others who have a variety of different life experiences and backgrounds. It allows you to see the problems you are working on from different angles."

To the incoming students, and those currently in-degree, Andrew recommends working on side projects outside of class - "An app, website or other side project can be a great resume builder and foot-in-the-door at a co-op placement or summer job. It might even help pay your tuition!"

For Andrew, tinkering outside of class helped him better understand the foundations provided in early courses. It also gave him ample skills to work in a remote environment, as was the case for his CIS4900 course. Working with Dr. Greg Klotz and Dr. Stefan Kremer, he developed open source software for the Firefox Marketplace along side full time Mozilla developers.

"I wouldn't say anything that I learned came particularly easy for me, but by starting early and asking the appropriate questions I was always able to figure out the problem at hand and excel." During his undergraduate degree, Andrew was also awarded the Dr. Mary McLeish scholarship, the Dr. Ted Swart scholarship, the Dr. James Linders scholarship, the Dr. Charles Capstick graduation prize, and has been a Dean's scholar every year. Andrew is currently working for Uken Games; the same company where he spent his last co-op term.

Congratulations Andrew, and to all of the 2014 graduates. Job well done.