We are so pleased to welcome Terese to the EoT team! Terese is studying engineering at the University of Waterloo. Today she is sharing her story….

Growing up, I had always been heavily involved in the arts and this was always something I planned on pursuing a career in. I attended an arts school in high school majoring in dance and strings and minoring in vocals.

I was encouraged to explore a career in engineering due to my interest in academic courses such as science and math, which is what led me to my current program: Nanotechnology Engineering.

At the time, I thought of this as a crazy change in focus – from arts to engineering, and questioned whether or not I would be able to fit in with students that had been interested in engineering for much longer.

When I began my program, I was extremely intimidated. After leaving high school with the proud achievement of 2^nd in my class, I was now in a new class with students who had all achieved the same status or higher.

I was no longer the best, and this was a tough pill for me to swallow. I knew I would have to find a way to succeed with my set of skills among students who had been coding since elementary school.

To my surprise, I was able to use my creativity to think differently and solve problems. I utilized my leadership skills and experience collaborating in extra curriculars to my advantage in group projects and lab settings.

These were all skills that I thought I would never use, but I experienced first-hand how inclusive engineering is!

Engineering revealed itself to be much more “artsy” than I had anticipated.

This feeling of “not belonging” was one that I chose to embrace, and I’m so glad I did!

It’s important to challenge ourselves wherever we can by taking advantage of those uncomfortable situations instead of shying away.

Thanks Terese – we are proud to have you on the team!

Anyone relate to Terese’s story? Can you think of a time you said yes to something intimidating and it ended up surprising you!