40 years of VIS: Easter eggs, bear-kidnapping and retro BBQ
Founded in 1984, the Computer Science Students' Association (VIS) at ETH Zurich looks back on 40 years of vibrant history. In this guest article, the VIS board reflects on an anniversary year full of memorable events, from an Easter egg hunt to pedalo fun and fabulous gala dinners.
Celebrations and traditions
Our 2024 anniversary celebrations kicked off with an Easter gala dinner, where we hosted an exhilarating Easter egg hunt on the Hönggerberg. The highlight was the "Eiertütschen" competition, where the finalists competed in this cherished Swiss tradition using Easter eggs.
On 26 April, we celebrated the birthday of Björn, our beloved plush ice bear mascot, with a delicious cake baking competition. Although Björn is younger than VIS, at 24 years of age he is still older than most of our students. He has had an eventful year, including being kidnapped and rescued as part of a CTF (capture the flag) event.
Summer fun and nostalgia
In the summer we cooled off on the lake with a fleet of 10 pedalos. We had a nostalgic BBQ and invited all our former active members back to ETH Zurich. It was great to hear so many stories from the past and to meet the first VIS President from 1984, Fredi Schmid.
Spooky Halloween and year-end concert
As autumn arrived, we transformed our beloved StuZ into a spooky venue for a fancy Halloween gala dinner, complete with tablecloths and pumpkins. There were many creative costumes to be seen, which added a special touch to the evening.
To end the semester and our anniversary celebrations, we organised a winter rock concert with two bands to end the year on a high note.
Amidst the anniversary celebrations, our regular activities continued with vigour. We organised a total of 183 events for our 3,179 members, who consumed 41,833 coffees and 1,812 beers from our machine at CAB. We are curious to see how these figures will look in another 40 years.