The ElectroStart program, an initiative by the coordination team of the Bachelor's in Electrical and Computer Engineering (LEEC), aims to integrate new students into the course. For this reason, between September 1st and 3rd, various activities were organized at the Alameda campus, with the goal of encouraging interaction between students, including those from different years of the program.

The program kicked off with the Welcome Session to LEEC, which included speeches from professors Nuno Hora, Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Paulo Correia, course coordinator, as well as students Marta Bárbolo, Miguel Velo — representative of Técnico’s Formula Student (FST Lisboa) — and Diana Dâmaso, from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Student Group (NEEC). The students got to know the different scientific areas of the program and some of the student groups they may join in the future.

After the session, the new students met their ElectroBuddies — second-year students who, in addition to helping organize ElectroStart, will be available throughout the year to clarify questions related to academic life.

Next, they took part in the first challenge, proposed by course coordinators Paulo Correia and Teresa Vazão. During the activity, the students had their first interaction with their new colleagues in a cooperative context with limited resources: the teams had to build the tallest spaghetti tower possible, keeping a marshmallow intact on top, using only 1 meter of string and tape, in under 20 minutes. The team "Torre Eiffel" won first place with a 70 cm tower, followed by "Mestres do Esparguete" with 68 cm, and "Douçuraoutravessura" with 60 cm. After sharing the results, representatives from the 11 teams talked about the main difficulties and stages of their project development.

The second day began with an outdoor activity aimed at testing students and encouraging them to exceed their own expectations. Throughout the morning, they practiced taekwondo and were challenged to break a wooden board at the end — something everyone succeeded in doing.

In the afternoon, students explored some of the final integrative projects from the previous academic year, presented by the students who developed them. They also participated in two hands-on workshops to gain basic skills in using Arduino and Fénix. The workshops were supported by HackerSchool, the IEEE SB at Técnico, NEEC, and the Directorate of Information Systems, respectively.

The final day included a collective solidarity action, in collaboration with the Food Bank Against Hunger. Students were divided into groups with different tasks, ranging from sorting clothing to testing electronic equipment.

In the afternoon, the session “You got into Técnico? Here’s your survival kit” took place, featuring Maria Vilar, a LEEC alumna and founder and CEO of Immersiv Studios. The session was led by current LEEC students. Maria shared her academic and professional journey, answering several questions from the audience. She emphasized that she would choose the Bachelor's in Electrical and Computer Engineering again.

At the end of the session, the course coordinators presented the students with a final challenge: to answer questions about the previously presented integrative projects. After the challenge, the professors awarded diplomas recognizing the winners of the engineering challenge — the team Torre Eiffel, made up of students Dilan Pereira, Lourenço Silva, Lucas Trigo, Manuel Oliveira, Martim Castanheira, Martim Estrela, and Sofia Santana — the team with the best name, Eletrotecnia e Companhia (David Leal, Filipe Gomes, Hugo Montez, Ivo Durães, Lourenço Gonçalves, Miguel Fontainhas, Sachipreet Kaur, and Sara Fock), and the most participative team (Bruno Coelho, David Vieira, Diogo Dutra, Inês Gonçalves, José Rodrigues, Rafael Abrantes, Rafael Domingues, Raquel Duarte, and Vicente Manuel). Students who answered the final quiz correctly and fastest were also recognized.

The welcome week concluded with a closing ceremony, thanking everyone involved in the ElectroStart program — including professors Paulo Correia and Teresa Vazão, and the support teams from the secretariat, communications, student groups, and ElectroBuddies.

See the photos from the welcome week at the following link:

👉 ElectroStart Program