From her office at a five-person San Francisco startup, Kailey Allan is designing sleek kettles, coffee pour-over systems, and other home brewing equipment for the boiling-hot kitchen accessory market.
Published author and master's graduate are two things Elizabeth Bassett can add to her resume as she crosses the stage at this June’s convocation ceremony. As an English student focusing on Victorian literature, Elizabeth found the perfect way to blend her studies with hands-on learning during her time at UVic.
It takes a very special co-operative education (co-op) employer to stand out from the 1,130 organizations that provided outstanding dynamic learning opportunities for UVic co-op students in 2015. It is with great excitement that the Co-operative Education Program and Career Services (Co-op and Career) has named Victoria-based LED and solar technology provider Carmanah Technologies Corporation as the 2015 UVic Co-op Employer of the Year for putting students at the forefront of emerging clean energy technologies, and for welcoming and mentoring them in the workplace in exemplary ways. Carmanah Technologies has provided positions for an impressive 18 co-op students since 2011 and has hired eight of these former students into full-time positions after graduation. The company, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2016, is known for welcoming students into Carmanah’s open and inclusive culture as valued team members rather than temporary employees.
Forty years after launching one of Canada’s largest co-operative education programs, the University of Victoria is celebrating its 75,000th co-op placement.
Each year, UVic’s Co-operative Education Program and Career Services recognize three co-op students who have made outstanding achievements in their academic achievement, workplace performance and community involvement. One student is selected from each of our three major program areas.
Dynamic, hands-on learning opportunities are a pillar of the UVic student experience. Forty years after launching one of Canada’s largest co-operative education programs, UVic has reached the milestone of 75,000 co-op placements.
When UVic student Kimberly Hanton packed her bags for her work term in Australia last month, she carried words of encouragement from the local Indigenous Elders. Hanton recently embarked on the university’s first Indigenous co-op exchange after attending a departure ceremony at First Peoples House in her honour. This unique co-op exchange saw Hanton travel to the University of Newcastle in Australia in August, while UVic will welcome Australian Indigenous student Cristal Walters to campus this fall.
Natasha Marshall likes to set goals for herself. Inspired by her mother, who began pursuing post-secondary education while Marshall was a teenager, she realized that through hard work and dedication she could make her dreams come true.
At UVic, learning extends well beyond the classroom. Through the university’s co-operative education program, students alternate terms in class with paid work terms in positions related to their fields of study.
Many students spend their summers tromping through slash-piles and battling blackflies to replant Canada’s forests. Two UVic engineering undergrads took a different approach: they designed and built a tree-planting robot with the idea of supplementing the humans’ hard work. “TreeRover” is the brainchild of third-year electrical engineering students Nick Birch and Tyler Rhodes. Through an entrepreneurial co-op work term, they formed their own company—Iota Enterprises—to build their robot prototype in Rhodes’ Saanich backyard.
From touring animal shelters in South Africa to analyzing cells from human blood or harvested mouse spleens in Vancouver, Stacey LeDoux’s UVic experiences have been a little different than most. LeDoux graduates this month from UVic, and as she waits to hear back about her med school applications, she’s reflecting on her time as an undergraduate. “UVic not only gave me the opportunity to travel, but to explore my interests, develop my skills, and apply my learning,” she says.
Co-ops confirm international student’s career choice in engineering When Anaïssia Franca transferred to UVic after the second year of her engineering science program in France, communicating was her biggest challenge. “I had a good understanding of English—but trying to contribute my ideas in group projects when you’re the only woman and there’s a language barrier? That was very hard,” she says.
Anna Beatch doesn’t like to plan too far ahead, and that feeds her thirst for adventure. She likes a challenge, which is why she chose UVic Law after receiving her undergrad commerce and business law degree from the University of Alberta. “I wanted to challenge myself and push my boundaries,” says Beatch. “I also chose UVic Law because of the co-op program.”
The BC government has announced $6 million in funding (provided through the BC Innovation Council) for students to receive job training in the technology sector.
Electrical engineering grad Sarah Allan explored her personal and professional interests at home and abroad while at UVic—thanks in large part to the co-op program. “Taking part in the co-op program allowed me to explore many of my personal interests,” she says. “It also allowed me to gain industry knowledge that wouldn’t have possible in a traditional degree program.”
For Emily Mailes of Melbourne, Australia, deciding what to study was a daunting process. “I was not one of those people who always knew what they wanted to do.” Six years post-high school and having relocated to Victoria, Emily decided to pick a path and move forward with her life. “UVic’s School of Health Information Sciences stood out,” she says. A relative is a grad who now has an interesting and lucrative career. The global opportunities across the tech sector held considerable appeal along with the school’s promise of guaranteed placement upon graduation.
