October 10th was not just a regular day for the IEEE UOB Student Branch this year, even though it was a Tuesday. All around the planet, people who are a part of the IEEE organization with all its sections and branches celebrated the IEEE day on the 10th of October 2016 and since the IEEE UOB SB kickstarted the celebrations in Bahrain las year, why would this year have been any different?

Mainly organized by the UOB Student Branch, the event was still a joint event between two other student branches: The Polytechnic and the AMA SBs along with the help of the newly emerging Young Professionals in Bahrain; overall, a very exciting team. The celebrations were held in the Bahrain Society of Engineers where IEEE members of all student branches came together to celebrate the day and the meaning behind it, proud of how far they have come since that “first meeting in 1884.” A huge number of the Bahrain Section senior members also joined the celebrations on the day including the Bahrain founder, Dr. Isa Qambar, the BS chair, and the vice chair of the section Dr. Mohab Mangound, who happens to be the UOB branch counselor. Members of the Women In Engineering affinity group also showed up including the group’s chair Dr. Raeda Al Alawi in order to celebrate the day and praise the formation of the affinity group within the UOB Student Branch as well, which was a development to be proud of.

Moreover, this year’s IEEE Day’s theme was “Leveraging technology for a better tomorrow” and in the spirit of that theme, speakers were invited to speak about various future technologies and how they will help make this planet a better place for everyone. We also had Chris as a guest speaker to speak about the future aspects of the labor market which was helpful to many.

Overall, however, what took over the atmosphere was the celebratory air, with the attendees jumping in to be be a part of the photo booth pictures, a cake cutting ceremony to honor the day (and the cake) and a dinner where the attendees gathered over to discuss their future plans and hopes for the student branches as whole. The event organization was hugely praised by the senior members and the student branches were encouraged to take part of organizing similar events in the near future to bring the IEEE members over the kingdom together.