From 2013-2018, the UWaterloo Life Blog revealed many highlights of the University of Waterloo student experience. What started as one story all the way back in 2013, snowballed into over 300 unique tales of adventure and perseverance, a little failure, and a lot of success. If you liked the blog, you’ll love our Instagram! Follow @UWaterloolife to discover new stories of student success and follow along with student takeovers.
In Abdullah Barakat’s final days before convocation, he decided to take a road trip across Canada, visiting the different engineering programs of different schools in the country. As a student graduating from the University of Waterloo with a degree in mechanical engineering, he wanted to take a chance and see what he could learn from each province and institution in April 2018.
Then, he created The Road Trip of the Travelling Covies blog, where he wrote about his day-to-day experiences travelling cross-country.
The route to post-secondary education isn’t the same for everyone, especially when it comes to graduate studies. I met Jaydum Hunt at a meeting for work, and she really caught my attention when she happened to mention that she would be entering a master’s program as a mature student this fall.
Zuhair and Prime Minister Trudeau at Parliament Hill (photo courtesy of the Daily Bulletin)
Heidi Fernandes administering medication to a patient
After witnessing the impoverished areas of Rio de Janeiro on a family vacation, Heidi Fernandes had a desire to help those in need.
As part of the Master of Development Practice (MDP) program, students are required to complete an internship within the field of development either in Canada or abroad. Having worked in Southeast Asia in the past, MDP candidate Vidya Nair, was eager to return.
The annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting brings together some of the brightest minds on the planet. Every year since 1951, a few dozen Nobel Laureates convene in Lindau, Germany to meet with a new generation of scientists. This year, 29 Nobel Laureates met with 400 young scientists from more than 80 countries around the world. Among those in attendance was Waterloo’s own, Jean-Philippe MacLean – a PhD student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC).
As a Biology graduate student, Casey Remmer has an inherent passion for understanding and preserving our environment. That passion, coupled with a commitment to wetland preservation and outstanding scholarship, made her the perfect candidate for a W.G. Garfield Weston Award: a $15,000 accolade recognizing outstanding northern research in universities across Canada.
With just 180 seconds on the clock, Gah-Jone Won, a PhD candidate at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, set out to distill his 200-page thesis. With six seconds to spare, Won became the first University of Waterloo student to walk away with the national 3-Minute Thesis title and $1,500 in prize money.
During the Vietnam War, fighters dropped more than 400,000 tons of sub-munitions over the country. Today much land remains dangerous to farm
and civilians continue to be injured from unexploded ordnance. Since the war ended in 1975, more than 100,000 people have been maimed or killed by unexploded bombs and landmines. This all kept Mary Crawford very busy during her internship in Quang Tri.
Many students pursue a graduate degree immediately after finishing their Bachelor’s. Equipped with his Honours Earth Science degree and a commercial pilot’s licence, however, Max Salman headed straight for the skies. As a geophysics surveyor, he spent months over the Amazon in Guyana and the United States, working for several high-profile clients. Salman then headed to Nunavut, Norway, Greenland and Iceland, flying low enough to see herds of muskox below the aircraft.
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