On the morning of Open House, we broke the brand new universal tester (the first major piece of equipment in Mechanical Tech). We made a new part in the machine shop and had the tester running again, just before the dean came through.
1970 was the first three-year graduating class at NC. There were only six of us left to graduate in Mechanical Technology.
They were literally building the place around us! Most of our lectures/ labs were in a temporary structure that, I’m sure is now long gone.
I live in Sarnia now and seldom get back to the Niagara area. In about 1992, I had a speaking assignment in Niagara Falls and travelled there early. I was able to stop in Fonthill at the home of Bill Walker and we had an excellent visit. Mr. Walker had taught most of our classes and we were very privileged to have him. He taught because he wanted to make a difference and he did!
One interesting part of our conversation during my visit was this: He explained that by third year, the six of us were capable of solving the math and design challenges of engineering, but that his main goal was teaching us that no matter how complex a problem was, it could be broken down into manageable segments, and instilling in us the confidence that we could.
