2016 Aarushi Roychoudhury
Mentor Company - CNRL
My Operation Minerva Experience
Research shows in Canada and many other developed nations in the world women represent the majority of young university graduates, but are still underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer science (STEM) fields. Many people attribute this low representation to lack of role models and lack of support from family or society. To enter the fields of science and technology, women need to believe in themselves and receive greater encouragement, and that’s where Operation Minerva comes in! Operation Minerva gives girls like me, the opportunity to know what STEM careers are all about, see professional women in their real workplaces, and be inspired! Operation Minerva helped me understand women are highly capable of having careers in science and technology, despite of the stereotype that men are better in these fields.
The minute I had heard about Operation Minerva, I knew this was an opportunity of a lifetime! When my science teacher Ms. Vandyk selected me to participate in this program I was overjoyed! I really wished that I would be picked to go, to some sort of a medical center, because I have always wanted to be a doctor. However, when I started to read my match letter, I found out I was going to CNRL, Canadian Natural Resources Limited. My heart sank, as I read that my mentors were, geoscientists, and geophysicists, because I didn’t even know what those two words meant!
My day started in front of a Co-op store, where I boarded a bus to reach the Girl's Guide Center, and from there everyone boarded different vehicles respective to their job shadowing location. When the bus stopped near CNRL, two of our mentors, Ms. Kimberly Hui, and Ms. Stephanie Fairfield came to receive us. When I first entered the CNRL building, I thought it was good workplace with a friendly environment.
Soon we were all sitting in a board room, getting to know each other by playing the “bingo game”. For the bingo game, everyone got a bingo card, and each square had something written on it, about a person like, “really likes math” or, “is a hydro geologist”. The first person to fill out all the squares with people’s name, respective to what they could do or like, would win the game. After playing the game I was feeling more comfortable with the students and mentors around me.
After the bingo game, Ms Tara Maliandt and Ms. Brittany Jorgensen, started a PowerPoint Presentation. In the presentation they talked about what CNRL was all about and how they retrieve oil from the ground, and the tools they use. During the presentation I was amazed to learn how the oil industry affects our daily lives. Usually, when I think about oil, I picture an oil spill from a ship in the ocean, or cars giving off gaseous fumes and polluting the air! I learnt that the oil industry was literally involved in everything. Petrochemicals are involved in the making of things from a toothbrush, to the clothes made from materials such as nylon, and to even electronics, such as computers and phones! So, if it wasn’t for the oil industry, I would not be typing this essay on my laptop! All along, I was sulking, about how I could not go to job shadow in a place related to healthcare. Well, it turns out petrochemicals play a big role in the healthcare industry. Petrochemicals are not only used as active ingredients in many medicines but are also used to make latex gloves, syringes, and even heart valves and artificial limbs! This presentation was an eye opener for me.
After the presentation, Ms. Joanna Czarnecki made a little geology show and tell. She showed us fossils, corals, different types of rocks, a large cow femur, and told us about the different geological time periods.
Next, we did a contouring exercise with Ms. Cassandra Frosini. Here we learnt what contouring means, and we even made our own contour maps. A contour line joins points of equal elevation, telling Geologists where to drill for oil. After making the contour maps, we played the “drilling game” using our maps. Here we just inserted a stick inside a box with holes in it. These holes were the “wells”, and depending on how the deep the stick went into the hole in the box, we determined the elevation of “well” and how much oil there would be in it. Each group chose a “well” or hole, based on their maps, and depending on how deep it was, and how much “oil” they retrieved, they got points. Unfortunately, not every group got a deep well, or retrieved a large amount of oil. This gave us an idea, of what it would be like, to be an actual geologist, geophysicist, or an engineer. They try their best but in real life not all wells will be filled with oil.
After all the morning activities were over, we all had a delicious pizza lunch. We all talked about our interests, hobbies, and places we have visited, and had a good break!
During the afternoon we built water filters with Ms.Elizabeth Amos. The objective of the activity was to build an effective filter under a budget. Each group got a 1 litre pop bottle, which was cut in half, and filtering materials such as coffee filters, cloths, and napkins. Except for the bottle, each of the materials had to be paid for with Monopoly Money, and each group only received $50 in Monopoly Money. After we built the filters our mentors poured dirty water, which was supposed to be like crude oil, into the filters. The group that spent the least amount of money on the filters, but, still had clean water won.
In the next activity we had to build a model of a rig, using skewers and marshmallows. The rig had to be as tall as possible and be able to hold weight without falling over. We had a limited a supply of marshmallows and skewers. The rig, which could hold the most amount of weight, compared to its height, won – and guess what, it was my group! The music speaker I received as a prize made my day!
After eating an afternoon snack (best Tiramisu Cake I ever had!), we took a tour of the building with our mentors. We looked and their workplaces, their offices, cabins, and meeting rooms. Then, we went back to the board room, and discussed about our day and what we learnt. We received our gift bags, which were filled with useful things. Now it was time for us to leave the office and board the bus.
Throughout the day, our mentors not only shared their professional lives with us but their personal lives as well. The greatest thing about all of our mentors, are that they break the common stereotype that, women are meant to perform domestic duties or are not capable of choosing a STEM career. All of our mentors not only have successful careers, but successful family lives as well. This proves a woman can be equally successful as a professional and still have time for her family.
The best thing about my day was all the knowledge I accumulated, especially about how the oil and gas industry affects my daily life. If I ever do become a doctor in the future, I should know where the materials or tools that I use come from, and now I do!
Thank you Operation Minerva and CNRL for such a great experience!
