THUNDER BAY – Lakehead University continued its cannon firing tradition to kick off the school year on Friday.
Firing the cannon is part of orientation for engineering students each year, to welcome new students and celebrate the new year.
Marlies Ilott, engineering student society president, said they hold orientation for first-year students, as well as students who have transferred from the college.
“We have a cannon at Lakehead that was put here about 50 years ago. There's a lot of history around the cannon, it represents the power and strength of engineering.
“You have to make sure you're very responsible. But it's been a tradition to fire the cannon at orientation at the beginning of every year for all the new students to see that,” she said.
Illott said there was a large group watching the cannon firing.
“I think we had about 100 students at orientation this year, which is a pretty big number for us. The last couple of years, after COVID, the numbers for first-year students and new students were a little smaller. It's good to see that those have come back up.”
The cannon at Lakehead University was not able to fire as there is cement inside, however employees of Fort William Historical Park brought a cannon and helped Ilott fire it.
“I was not expecting to fire the cannon. But I was super excited when they told me I was going to do it.
“I knew it was going to be loud but I wasn't expecting to jump that high,” she said.
