2015 Zoë Keefe
Mentor Company - Dillon Consulting Limited
Operation Minerva 2015
If you had told me three months ago that I would be considering a career in engineering, I would not have believed you…this is what changed my mind…
I was so excited to find out that I got accepted into Operation Minerva. Operation Minerva is a job-shadowing and mentoring program for Grade 8 or 9 girls with a female STEM professional.
When I was told that I would be learning about Engineering at Dillon Consulting, I was thrilled as I am very interested in Science and Technology. But I soon realized that I had almost no knowledge of what goes on in a consulting business and this would be a great opportunity to learn more.
I did some research about the company. I found out that Dillon Consulting is a Canadian owned professional consulting organization. Since it’s beginning almost 60 years ago, the company has grown steadily in services provided, skills employed and geographic representation. Dillon operates from coast-to-coast across Canada and internationally in Asia, the Caribbean, the United States and Central America.
On the day, students who were chosen to participate in Operation Minerva were picked up from their designated locations. (I left from Westhills)
Our group started off by meeting in a boardroom at the Dillon office and had a brief talk with our mentors. They explained what Dillon Consulting does and how it works. I learned that Dillon is one of the companies that designs infrastructure and bridges for the City of Calgary and private businesses. They focus on five client groups: government, industry, resources, real estate and international. I found out later that they had won three major awards this year and the list keeps growing.
We had a brief welcome talk with Sandra Warren (Water Resources). Then we were introduced to Dillon’s main Planner Susanne Glenn-Rigny. Susanne guided us to our next activity, which was making personal business cards. Our main goal was to create a logo or picture that we thought represented us best. My final design was a tree with multicolored leaves spread all across each and every branch. Next our mentors explained how to properly label our cards and add details. It was a super fun icebreaking activity. Once everyone was finished we handed in our sketches and suited up to travel around some of the old buildings in East Village.
As we walked along the sides of Downtown historical buildings in our white hard hats and luminescent orange vests, we realized how much effort goes into making one adjustment on a structure. Ms. Glenn-Rigny clearly explained the process of creating and finalizing a building, park or bridge. We explored the inner workings of the Enmax heat towers and how the infrastructure in the East Village had changed drastically over the years.
Our mentors soon stopped us and asked our opinion on a rusty truss bridge near Alberta Theater Projects. The bridge area is really noisy, ugly, dark and seems to attract criminal activity.
We discussed the best possible way to make the walking section under the bridge more enjoyable for Calgarians. Our answers varied from public art to sound dampeners and even widening or removing parts of the concrete base. We discussed and changed the ideas until we reached a verdict on what worked best. Our mentors then explained how the materials, permits and cost come into play while designing for clientele. We agreed on extra lighting, a set of sound dampeners and a large piece of artwork spread across one of the walls.
Then we headed back toward the high-rise apartment that was being built across the street from Dillon’s headquarters. The building had been placed on top of a warehouse and was half-finished. Our other mentors told us that the shadow from the building is just as important as the shape or location it’s placed in. We learned that a building in a large shadow is very discouraging to pedestrians. I was surprised that this is such a key factor in Planning and Engineering.
After an interesting morning, we returned to Dillon Consulting for lunch. We were given delicious Panago pizza and some soda. We talked with our peers and mentors about our schools and daily lives. It was fun to meet other students as well as the staff and socialize over pizza. Did I mention the amazing pizza? We had a fascinating conversation about universities and job opportunities. Jessie, who was the youngest mentor in the group, was a recent Waterloo University graduate. She explained her journey through education and that before she became an Engineer, she had believed many of the stereotypes and had been discouraged. Traditionally engineering has been a male dominated profession.
Jessie told us that many of the universities across Canada had to completely remodel the engineering department to fit the needs of women, because the applicants were traditionally mostly male. Shortly after the discussion, all the mentors were sharing stories of the university they graduated from and what their experience had been. I was fascinated by the options as they had all come to Dillon with different backgrounds.
We were presented with our final challenge. Create a bridge out of recycled materials in 30 mins. My group had three members and a grand idea of how we could design the bridge. So we gathered supplies from around the office and soon were designing an arch bridge for two-way traffic. We had trouble forming the foundation but with a little bit of insightful advice from a few of our mentors, we were well on our way to success. We needed to include a base, three pillars on either side and some aesthetic appeal. The bridge we designed stood strong and met all of the criteria.
Before we left the office, each student was given a super cool tote bag that included some chocolate, a few pens and some other Dillon Consulting items. This treat finished my phenomenal day at Dillon Consulting. I was so lucky to be part of a consulting business for a day and see what really goes on.
Operation Minerva was a fun, educational and inspiring experience. I was very fortunate to be able to take advantage of this outstanding program and I would very much like to participate again.
I’m so grateful that the Calgary Girls School selected me to be one of the students that had the opportunity to experience Operation Minerva. The mentors at Dillon told us that we have a long time to think about which career would best suit us. Now I realize that I need to be more open minded about my future occupation. Engineering sounds challenging but interesting. Although I had misgivings about the field, I now realize that there are lots of excellent opportunities for motivated women.
Thank you Operation Minerva and Dillon Consulting, for showing all the female participants this year that Math and Science are so much more than just classes in school.
In appreciation to:
Jessie Shepley (E.I.T) (Civil Engineering) Barbara Petrunic (PhD) (Aqueous Geochemistry) Mireille Docet (Structural Technologist) Sandra Warren (P.Eng.) (Water Resources) Rhiana Barnes (P.L.) (Eng.) (Civil Engineering) Kari Idland (MPlan) (EIT) (Planner) Susanne Glenn-Rigny (Planner) Calgary Girls School Operation Minerva Dillon Consulting
