BY HAILEY DONEY
APEGGA Student Columnist
University of Calgary
Geosciences

Hailey Doney is currently completing her B.Sc, in Geology, University of Calgary. Her undergraduate thesis is trend mapping of the Jurassic-Cretaceous Monteith Formation. Hailey is vice-president, academics, for the Rundle Geology Club and an active member of both the APEGGA Student Liaison Committee and the GeoSkills planning committee.

Phew! Rundle Group president Megan Miller, and vice-president, events, Megan Lee, are breathing a sigh of relief now, as their idea has been a great success and hopefully the first of many such annual events.

Why are they relieved, well the APEGGA student members had an idea to create a networking event for third and fourth year geoscience students nearing the end of their undergraduate degree. Hence the first student, professional networking dinner was held recently at the Ramada Hotel, Calgary.

This event is seen as a stepping stone for eager geoscience students on the brink of their professional careers. The contact gave students the opportunity to ask any questions they might have about working in the industry. Likewise, it allowed geoscience professionals to meet with some of the bright minds that are soon to be entering their industry.

Emcees for the event were Dr. David Eaton, department head of Geosciences at the University of Calgary and geoscience student Megan Lee. Students signed up to be seated with the professionals working in the area they were most interested in.

The night was full of inspirational speeches from representatives of sponsoring companies Cenovous, Encana, Suncor, and Talisman Energy, as well as good food, chatter and trivia games. Each speaker told of a bright future for those soon to be professional geoscientists, leaving a feeling optimism for students about starting their careers in rocky economic times.

A Night To Remember It’s all smiles at the inaugural geoscience student and professional’s mixer. At the podium thanking the event sponsors are, from left APEGGA student member Megan Lee, and Dr. David Eaton, Head, Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary.