A student perspective given at the Atlantic Regional Liberal Summit attended by the Provincial Premier’s, the Federal Ministers and federal MPs.
Engineering Brightness has had long term effects on me after leaving high school and starting post secondary education. I am in Dalhousie’s Integrated Science program, a competitive program accepting around 70 students from first year to take part, meaning that from the nearly 1000 students going into their first year, it was competitive. I had the same level of biology as many other kids, my marks weren’t valedictorian level good, nor was I an athlete. What made me different, was Engineering Brightness and the fact I was being the change I wanted to see in the world. This made me an individual and not just a number: B00766752.
Great, I got in. One thing I was not fully prepared for, was the challenge of first year university in an elite program such as Integrated Science. It was challenging in a way my high school had not prepared me for; more assignments in a week than I had in a semester of high school and an environment where the stress of succeeding is higher than any other time in my life (I mean after all I am paying for my school, any amount of effort less than my all was a waste of my own money). It was challenging, but I had the environment of Engineering Brightness for the last few years, and I could use Engineering Brightness to help me get through the tough days. As cheesy at it sounds, I’d remind myself of my involvement within EB when times got particularly stressful or busy. Could I really get all this work done on time? of course I could, I’d designed and built my own light that was now in the Dominican Republic. When I wake up early in the morning and sleeping until noon sounds like the best idea ever, I get up and go to class no matter how much I dislike earth science labs because Engineering Brightness instilled the ideology that my education was an important tool for both myself but even more important, for helping others. Even though I don’t see first hand how learning about igneous rock composition will help others, that mentality has remained across all my subjects.
Engineering Brightness has given me a set of skills and mentality that I can draw from to help me in every other aspect of my life. Engineering Brightness has given purpose to my learning and strength to persevere. The purpose of learning is to build capacity so that I can help others.
