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Breanna DeFreitas, a Geography and Environmental Management student, is the 2022 Faculty of Environment Co-op Student of the Year winner for her work at renewable energy provider Evolugen by Brookfield Renewable!
DeFreitas joined the company’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) team in the fall as their first co-op student. During her co-op work term, she played a key role in benchmarking ESG programs and sustainability reporting. She was responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) data quality control inventory, which required processing large amounts of data in a short time. With her support, the team completed the projects six weeks ahead of schedule.
Utilizing her excellent communication and coordination skills, DeFreitas independently managed Evolugen’s relationship with a third-party consultant. She validated their work and ensured projects were completed on time and within budget. She also analyzed 20+ research reports and presented her findings, and a proposed outline of a new sustainability report, to the company’s vice-president of sustainability.
“As someone who is still not 100 per cent sure what I want do in life after I graduate, I think it’s really given me the opportunity to know that renewable energy is something that is on my radar,” says DeFreitas.
Based on the positive experience Evolugen had working with DeFreitas, the company now hires Waterloo co-op students each term.
“Co-op has allowed me to learn more about myself and the work that I would like to do when I graduate, to try new things and learn invaluable lessons along the way. Being able to say I did win [the Co-op Student of the Year], it’s something that makes me very proud,” said DeFreitas.
