2015 Charlotte Heida
Mentor Company - ConocoPhillips
The Shoulders of Giants
How many famous female scientists can you name off the top of your head? For me, the only two that pop up are Jane Goodall and Marie Curie. All that I know about them is they did something outstanding in their field and they are woman. In our class, we have a board with famous, life changing scientist with the words “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” emblazoned in the centre. Of all the scientists on there, not a single one is female. Why is it that the majority of scientists we study in school are men?
Initially, when first introduced to the idea of participating in Operation Minerva I was wary. Why would I want to spend a day in math or science jobs? I already knew what I was going to be: a well-practiced politician, eventually becoming the Prime Minister of Canada. This choice just seemed obvious, due to my love of debating. Knowing that this was an opportunity to broaden my perspective, I decided to try it. If I truly hated it, well, then I missed a day of school.
Later that week, I found that I was paired with Conoco Phillips. I was less than happy: my dad worked in the oil and gas industry, so I thought that I knew all of what there was to know. How would this broaden my perspectives?
When I arrived at Conoco Phillips, after two short bus rides, my group was greeted by Alta Scott who led us to into the building. Marvelling at the collection of funky chairs, we quickly wound up in one the floors new conference room. I grabbed a seat near the back and as Alta began to explain the day to us, I stuffed my Operation Minerva bag into the backpack on my seat. In a few minutes I was on my way to Geology.
When we arrived at Geology, Michelle and Jane welcomed us. They taught us the basics of what they did: contouring. You would think that drawing some squiggly lines on a page wouldn’t be that hard, but there’s a lot more to it! Geologists have a limited budget and can only do so many tests before they start to contour the landscape. They have to guess at where the high and lows on the subsurface would be from the data that they have. We got to experience this in a game. I got to “drill” six coordinates that my group shouted out, and then we had to contour from the data we had. It was a lot of fun!
When we finished, we found our way to Environment. Nicole and Brooke taught us how Conoco Phillips looks for the best spots to place drills and facilities. They explained how where and how long they drill effects the air and water quality, and species in the area. Knowing this, we had a section of data and had to determine whether or not we could drill near Calgary: turns out that we had extremely good air and water quality!
As we travelled to Geophysics, I started to see the connection to my grade eight math and science in our grade. We had to use integers and estimation in Geology, fresh and saltwater systems and biology in Environment. Now I was curious: what was geophysics and how did it work? Corina and Maria quickly explained that geophysics was looking at the rock formation in a non-invasive way, meaning they sent seismic waves into the ground to find oil deposits. We used an iPad app to see this ourselves. We sent small vibrations down the table which were measured by the iPad. Using seismic data, we then had to guess where an oil deposit was. Using what we had learned in Geology, it was a quick process!
In a short amount of time, we were on our way to Drilling Engineering. Bianca was quick to welcome us and show us a slightly embarrassing photo of her family, making us laugh. It reminded me of my family; we can hardly get a decent picture: Conoco Phillips must really value family time since they provided flexibility in the workplace! She taught us how drilling could go vertical and horizontal, how fracking worked, how they extracted oil out of the ground (Hint: it involves two pipes, one with steam!) and what a drilling operation might be like. In a short amount of time, we were experimenting with a non-Newtonian fluid out of cornstarch and water. Then it was time for lunch!
During lunch, I started to reflect on the first half of the day. It was fascinating how all of the fields at Conoco worked together. While we ate, I sat with my new friend Gale and listened to Lori Woodward, the VP of Finance. Lori answered our questions with a big smile, even though some were un-related to Conoco Phillips and the day. She explained that she really loved her job and the charisma at Conoco Phillips: She had been working there for 24 years! It just goes to show, with hard work and diligence, you can climb your way to the top, no matter your gender. When she finished, we gathered around a table with a well-decorated cake on it. Before we cut into the cake, we had to take “Core samples” to find “Oil and Gas” deposits; it was one of the highlights of the day. Lunch was delicious, especially the cake (our core samples)
After lunch, we headed to Facility Engineering with Janine and Heather. There they taught us how they get oil out of the rig when the pressure of the water sits on top of the oil, halting its flow and how big a pipeline actually is. After, they helped us figure out the volume of reservoir rock there could be, how many drills would be needed to extract all of the oil, and the volume of oil they could extract. It was surprisingly interesting seeing how math in grade eight could prepare us for an engineering job!
Last we went to Finance. Our work here began with Sally from the UK, telling us the three stages of finance: planning for the future, what’s happening now and looking back on it. Her presentation was exciting because we became finance employees for a short time. Working in pairs, we had to determine what the best well was to drill a small, medium or large. Sadly before we could make this important decision our bus had come to collect us!
I couldn’t believe it; how was the day done? As Alta escorted us from the building, I reflected on what I had learned. I now knew that oil wasn’t a big pool under-ground, but in tiny holes in large rocks. I knew that contouring was mapping the earths sub surface’s highs and lows and fossil fuels could be found in the high parts; I had learned a lot! When we waved goodbye to everyone, I was disappointed that the day was done so quickly.
Looking back, I’m shocked that I enjoyed the day as much as I did. Girls like me, enjoying math and science; who would have thought! So maybe my mentors aren’t life changing, famous scientists and mathematicians: they still showed me a lot about what they do…and while I still plan on being the prime minister, I might just end up in the math and science fields; at least political sciences!
Standing on the shoulders of giants - what a bold statement. I think that all girls are standing on the shoulders of giants when they start work: the shoulders of the women before us who forged their way into the workforce.
