What is a PP anyways?

You might have heard the term before, possibly in reference to yourself. It is another way of saying “First Year Engineer”.

The PP class, the collection of Engineering Frosh, is usually looked down upon as the “lowest” form of society in the Engineering faculty at UBC. PPs are laughed at and teased by all non-PPs (anyone in Bio/Chem, Civil, Elec, GeoRox, IGEN, Mech, Mining, MMAT or Fizz). The saving grace of all of this is that 1) all those teasing you were once PPs themselves and 2) if you pass the year, you will no longer be a PP, either.

You may be wondering why you are called PPs. The name comes from one of our many Engineering traditions. Many years ago, PPs were called ZZs which put them absolutely last alphabetically. A couple of first years who thought they were pretty smart invited a bunch of their first year friends to a tEUSday meeting, and, by outnumbering everyone, passed a motion renaming them the AAs, making them first alphabetically. Their glory didn’t last long, however, as a motion was quickly passed to run meetings in reverse alphabetical order. So, the first years were right back where they started. They eventually made a deal whereby, as long as they came last among the EUS clubs, they could be something slightly better than ZZs. For unknown reasons, PP was chosen.

Now, you must carry the proud name. You have to fulfill your duties as a PP and to live up to the standards of past years. Your job is to try as hard as you can to win at anything and to accept it humbly when everyone else kicks your ass all over the place.