The Kick-In started with the introduction market: The place where new students get to meet the associations at the UT. One of these associations is, of course, the WOT; we too want to attract new members. Luckily, this year we got a very central spot on the market terrain. Quickly after setting up our stand, with our small portable windmill and the other demo setups (flamingo pump, mini Crete, and solar cooker), the first new students were attracted to our stand. This year, we saw faces of varying studies that were interested in the WOT, and by the end of the afternoon, we had a full mailing list of potential new members.

The MTAD lunch is the second opportunity for the WOT to attract new members. In the beginning new students were mainly enjoying lunch and did not come to the stand, but when their stomachs began to be filled, groups started forming at our stand. We gave the same explanations about what we do at the WOT, about our introduction activities (you can read a blog about that soon), and everything else they wanted to know about the interesting demo setups at our stand. It turned out that there were even more people interested during this lunch than during the intro market.

Due to the influx of new members of the WOT who studied TCS, this year the WOT had not one but two Kick-In Do-groups! One for ME and one for TCS!

The Kick-In for the WOT mechanical engineering do group was an absolutely amazing week, filled with campfires, parties, and most importantly, giving the new first years an amazing introduction to their new life at uni, and much more importantly, the WOT.

The week started out strong when a very enthusiastic (and only slightly hungover) pair of parents gave a speech about the WOT so good that it caused every first-year student in the room to put the WOT as their first choice. They ended up with 11 kiddos, soon adopting one more that night.

As the week went on, the 12 kiddos slowly started becoming more, as more first years learned about how amazing the WOT was. More started joining the do group, including one night where they started with 11 kiddos and ended the night with 18.

After 9 days straight of partying, jumping off bridges, getting sick, bakfietsen, storming the Bastille, and having fun, the week ended with the ultimate challenge: making the heroes breakfast on the last day of the Kick-In. 13 kiddos and Brodie set out to party all night and had the night of their lives, and after only one casualty, 12 kiddos made it back to enjoy sausages, eggs, and bread at the WOT to celebrate before promptly passing out from pure exhaustion.

The WOT Technical Computer Science Kick-In slightly differed from the ME one, but was just as great. We filled our week with campfires, board games, music, and parties.

On the first day, we made pancakes to convince people to join the WOT do group. But we found out people actually liked the WOT talk we gave so much that the pancakes were no longer needed to convince them. We talked to kiddos who wondered why we might build a windmill at 2 am, and kiddos who loved campfires. Our plan was to do as many of the activities this Kick-In could give us, so that our kiddos could find out what they were interested in, and we hoped they would also like the WOT. 

Eventually, we got 9 kiddos, one of whom was lost at first, but then was found a few days later. We started that day with pizzas, and when we had finished those, we showed the do-group around at the WOT terrain. We explained how easy it is to transport and build the Diever, and why the Kreta turned out not to be a great success, and what the PTB is used for. Our kiddos liked the WOT, and that is eventually where we spent most of our Kick-IN, with about half the do group becoming members during the week and starting some small projects in the workshop.

Overall, the Kick-In was a humongous success, which got many people excited to join the WOT. 

Last but not least, a few words about the faculty Kick-In. The first day of the faculty Kick-In, Deadalus kiddos swarmed the terrain to make their famous beerboards. Armed with pen and paper, they begin carefully sketching. To then, all at the same time, request a large amount of reciprocating sawing and hole drilling. This was no problem; the kiddos were delightful, and the BBQ that evening was delicious. The free beer also helped.

For the last two days of the faculty KickIn, the WOT once again had the pleasure of having Newton on our terrain. They came with heaps of pallets, bikes, and big blue water drums. The first day, they made their classic catapult, which once again proved to be harder than it looks. The WOT was treated to a great BBQ with plenty of beer as a reward for the volunteering. The second day, they brought back an old tradition: Raft building! With pallets, empty milk jugs, and two 200L water barrels per group, they embarked on their quest. It turned out to be quite the hassle to build a raft that has the buoyancy to hold up to people but is still stable so as not to fall over. It was an endearing sight to see! We hope to see the rafts return next year!