Waterloo graduates embrace change

When Alessia Danelon graduates from mechanical engineering this week, she says she’ll be sitting amongst her people - curious students who like to take risks and push boundaries.

Danelon, who will start a full-time job at Apple Inc. in Northern California in August, says the dynamic culture at Waterloo is a two-way street:  Waterloo encourages innovation and entrepreneurialism, but its renowned co-operative education program actually draws young people hungry for change.

“Waterloo draws students who are willing to move every four months for co-op,” says Danelon. “These are people who are not afraid of learning new things. They are students who aren’t happy staying in one place. They love that dynamic atmosphere.”

Danelon says being part of Waterloo co-op means her fellow graduates applied for jobs every other term, often moved to different cities or countries to get work during their degree, and tackled concepts in the working world that they hadn’t been taught.

“You have to have the kind of personality where you trust yourself to learn things on the fly,” says Danelon.

She sings, plays the organ and directs musicals

As a president of the Engineering Student Societies Council of Ontario, Danelon met young people from across Canada who frequently commented on how Waterloo students give 110 per cent to their studies and extra-curricular activities.

While completing an engineering degree was demanding, Danelon also made time to sing in the Engineering Society’s jazz band, direct a musical and serve as the president of Waterloo’s Engineering Society.

She plans on taking a pottery class this summer before leaving to live in San Francisco with two other engineering grads. Danelon is currently doing research for a professor that involves her true passion – biomedical engineering.

“If you would have asked me five years ago whether I’d be doing all these things, I would have said no,” says Danelon. “It’s been an amazing ride.”