January 2006 ISSUE
volunteer profile
job shadow the convincer for young volunteer
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Meeting the Challenge |
BY KIRSTEN MILNER
Public Relations Coordinator
Job shadowing is an effective way to bring new engineers
into the fold, and Tera Shandro, E.I.T., is a shining example. She joined APEGGA
during her first year as an engineering student at the University of Alberta
and was already on her way to great things.
When she graduated in 2003, she received the APEGGA Medal in Chemical Engineering for achieving the highest academic standing in her discipline. She is now an Outreach volunteer, and she works on maintenance and optimization of plant piping and equipment with Imperial Oil’s facilities engineering group in Cold Lake.
Initially, Tera thought engineering might be a good career fit because of her interest in math and science. What really convinced her, however, was a job shadow with an engineer when she was in high school.
“Without that influence, I likely wouldn't have selected engineering,” she says. “Trying to solve a new problem in a creative way was really my motivator, especially when some of the other career options I was considering seemed repetitive and the learning curve seemed to slow down drastically after a relatively short period of time.”
Engineering, on the other hand, has continual appeal because each day brings
new problems to investigate. “Not only do I enjoy the learning that comes
with understanding a problem,” Tera says, “but also the many different
skills, both technical and non-technical, that are enhanced while solving it.” She
also enjoys working with and learning from people with different technical and
operational backgrounds.
Tera’s enthusiasm for engineering and learning are two of the reasons she
volunteers with APEGGA. “Many high school students are not aware of what
engineering really involves, or the opportunities associated with it,” she
says. “I am lucky to have met an engineer who motivated me to pursue a
career in this field. I would like to give as many other young people as possible
the same chance that I had.”
She also enjoys cultivating a sense of wonder in the classroom. “It is extremely rewarding to be able to motivate students into creatively applying math and science concepts to real life,” Tera says. “I love to watch how they become fascinated with the design of everyday products that they may take for granted.”
One of Tera’s most memorable volunteer experiences was a career fair at Dr. Bernard Brosseau School in Bonnyville. She had four half-hour sessions, each with a group of 25 junior high students. Her task was to instill an understanding of the concept of engineering in a short period, and she chose a hands-on learning approach.
Tera asked the students to divide into groups of four or five, and she gave them a bag of marshmallows and some toothpicks. She instructed them to build the strongest structure they could. The structures were then tested to see which one could hold the most books.
“I could not believe how excited they were to try to win the challenge,” Tera says. “Some groups came up with designs I hadn't even considered.” Afterwards, they talked about the wide variety of options there were for engineering careers — from building roads to designing artificial limbs, quads and motorbikes.
What Tera found most remarkable was that at the end of each session, the students were completely comfortable with the idea that engineers have varied job descriptions and, most importantly, that engineers are involved in solving problems, no matter what the complexity.
“To see students’ understanding go from having no idea of what engineers do, to understanding fundamentally what we are about, was an amazing experience. I will definitely do the career sessions again next year. It is rewarding to be able to give back to the community, especially when it concerns a subject area that I enjoy so much.”