Feature Presentation
Every day we help young women defy stereotypes, open new doors and inspire them to live their dreams.
Over the next year, our “Feature Presentation” will introduce you to young women who have entered a science, trade, technical or technology related career as a result of their participation in Techsploration.
We will also tell you inspiring stories about our teachers, role models and sponsors.
Our inaugural feature presentation is Becky’s story.
When grade 9 student, Rebecca White, walked into the Dartmouth office of Accent Engineering Consultants with her Techsploration team mates, not only did her image of an engineer immediately change, but so did her future plans. “Up until then, I had no idea what an engineer did,” says Rebecca. “When I thought about engineering, I didn’t think it was my kind of thing. I knew I didn’t want to build bridges or robots.” But watching engineers at Accent pore over blueprints and hearing them talk about designing oil and gas pipelines was exciting. “It was over my head but I thought it was really interesting…I had never considered engineering as a career before participating in Techsploration.”
In June of 2010, Rebecca graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from Dalhousie University in Halifax, thanks in part to the experience she had 8 years earlier as a member of the Techsploration team at East Antigonish Education Academy. “I didn’t know any women engineers. Prior to that, my options felt limited to jobs I saw other women doing.”
Techsploration showed Rebecca that there were careers she’d never heard of and women doing them! “The program allowed me to be more open-minded about my future choices and to see a variety of different careers. This helped me choose what was best for me.” Rebecca now works as an engineer in the Distribution Design group at ATCO Gas in Calgary. Knowing how impacted she was by meeting female role models and hearing their stories, she makes a point of doing the same. “As a role model now myself, it’s very gratifying to be able to opens doors for young women and see how excited they get when they hear about what I do.”
We look forward to Becky joining us in one of our future online workshops!
