After taking the bus to Edmonton’s downtown core, I arrived at my workplace, the Alberta Advanced Education and Technology office. Having interned there for almost a month, the thought of leaving the place at the end of the day struck a sad note. Of course, that feeling was also encouraged by the beginning of school looming ever nearer!

I had a presentation that afternoon, so I worked on putting the finishing touches on my presentation. The presentation was detailing my summer internship assignment. For my project, I was given a database, and I was to undertake further analysis on it based on several parameters. I was introduced to SPSS and PASW Statistics, statistical software that enables users to deliver clear and accurate results. My project was to analyze the information in the database and do some data abstraction, importing, recoding and entry. It was a very interesting project and one in which I was able to exercise my analytical processes and acquire many transferable skills.

The presentation went wonderfully and we were all treated with delicious nachos and homemade salsa. For dessert, we had equally scrumptious apple strudel! I had an amazing experience this August working with many delightful people! I am very thankful to Shad Valley for providing me with this wonderful opportunity.

At the end of the day, I thought to myself, that this was definitely not the end; this summer was just the kick start of many wonderful experiences to come.

Shivani Upadhyaya
Hometown: Edmonton, AB

My Shad internship is at Vancity. On Friday, I was at my desk, diligently finishing my final assignment, as it was the last day of my internship experience with Vancity’s Web User Experience team.

I was filled with pride, while I added the finishing touches to a directory of Insurance Specialists for Vancity’s member-facing website. Even with my lack of experience with websites, through these five weeks I grew familiar with the intricate system content management and helped my co-workers create a useful and accessible resource for Vancity members.

After I submitted my final masterpiece, a legacy of my internship, I sat back, looked around the familiar office, and typed up an email for the WUE team as farewell. It was an enjoyable five weeks not only because of what I learned, but also because of the exceptional people that make up the Vancity team.

Helena Cao
Hometown: Burnaby, BC

Vancity Team in "dramatic scene" photo
taken by Helena Cao

I arrived at TD Tower today at 8:30am and after a short ride up the elevator I was sitting at my desk waiting for my computer to load up. I had some time to check my emails, I had only a few, and they were notifying me of upcoming meetings. By 9:00am I was in the test lab and starting my day's testing of the latest version of TD Bank Financial Group's C3 software. This software is used by financial advisors to aid customers with financial decisions and creating accounts. I began this day testing the create account portion of the C3 program in the French language looking for errors.

By lunch time, I had gone through 24 scripts testing that portion of C3 and had submitted 8 defect reports. These defect reports outlined problems that I found in the program based on the scripts I was following. The errors I found included a case where French and Spanish characters were not accepted in the description of account entry field, and also I was able to find a spelling mistake on one of the pages within the C3 program. After lunch I continued to test the same portion of C3, this time I found a fewer errors. I went through 31 more scripts and only found small errors within the scripts I was following.

5:00pm soon rolled around, time for me to head home. I’m excited to see what I discover in the C3 program for tomorrow. This internship has allowed me to better understand the time and effort it takes to commercialize a product such as C3 and the amount of programming that goes into such a product.

Brendan Santyr
Hometown: London, ON

I have spent my limited time here at Verafin exploring all sections of the company. Verafin provides credit unions and banks with BSA/AML (Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering) and Fraud detection software using artificial intelligence, so having a firm understanding of the regulations in the financial industry is crucial.

I completed the Edcomm Online Training on “AML Overview for Canada” and “Focus on BSA/AML for Compliance and FIU (Financial Intelligence Units)” to get a better understanding of the regulations in the financial industry to prepare for my time with marketing and sales. During my time with sales and marketing, I sat in on calls with potential clients and current customers, participated in planning and strategizing meetings, learned about current partnerships, and helped send out a mass e-mail campaign.

Today I am working with the Development team and we started the morning with a kickoff meeting. I have been particularly focused on the testing aspect, helping check the documentation of the application to make sure that it correctly and clearly describes each section of the application for the customer. I was also working on a test plan of the application. Using a test plan, I would check that the expected outcome and the real outcome matched and that there weren’t any problems.

My time at Verafin has opened my eyes to the varied aspects of this company and how they affect each other, along with a new use of engineering and artificial intelligence. The experience that I have had during my internship with Verafin has been incredible. I really appreciate and value the support of the company – it has given me the opportunity to work in a really dynamic and positive environment, so focused on employee satisfaction. As I left I made sure to place my green marble in the jar, to represent my great day at work.

Philippa Gosine
Hometown: St. John’s, NL

Ding! An alert popped up on my company laptop from Outlook. I walked down the office hallway and slowed to a stop to face the impersonal stares of Neo, Trinity and Morpheus, nonchalant and looking cooler than ever. Let me explain myself. My company, Redknee Inc., names its meeting rooms after movies and decorates its doors accordingly with large posters. This morning, I had a chance to sit in and observe a senior meeting between various managers within Redknee Inc. It was very fascinating to see the dynamics of a high-level corporate meeting and the measures put in place in the pursuit of meeting efficiency.

After this, I worked on designing an internal information sharing feature to gather all the documentation for a product into one convenient location for all Redknee employees. Using my increasing familiarity with the company due to previous assignments, and the basic HTML I’ve learned in the past week, I’ve been building a representative prototype on the current company portal. I met with a developer to finalize the details for Thursday when I will shadow him for the day. He was knowledgeable, friendly, and eager to teach; this shone through in an extensive and interesting lecture he gave me about how the developer fits in with the product lifecycle and the company as a whole. For the rest of the day, I’ve been reading up on the appropriate feature design documents to prepare for my shadowing.

I’ve learned a lot about how a company functions and what it is like to work in such an environment. I’m thoroughly and sincerely grateful to have earned an internship at such an innovative and progressive company like Redknee.

Peter Cui
Hometown: Toronto, ON

After Shad Valley at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, I joined the Impact Entrepreneurship Group for my post-Shad internship. Impact is Canada's largest non-profit, student-run organization that strives to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit in today's youth. I am currently being mentored by Alex Shipillo, Impact's BC president, and getting exposure to the different aspects of running a national organization as big as Impact. It was really wonderful to know that I would be working with Alex as he is one of Canada's Top 20 under Twenty scholars and a Shad Alum. Throughout my internship, Alex kindly shared his personal experiences of entrepreneurship and volunteerism with me and inspired me to get my feet wet in social entrepreneurship.

As part of my job, I work with Impact's corporate sponsors, such as the British Columbia Innovation Council and the Certified General Accountants Association, and major charities across Canada for the Impact Microcredit competition. From overseeing the progress of the 2009 Microcredit competition, I report key statistical figures indicating the immense potential of the competition to our sponsors. It has been an excellent opportunity for me to learn about managing Impact’s high-level projects and gain transferrable skills which will definitely give me a competitive edge in the job market. In addition, I am currently working on an exclusive project with Impact to seek out the top youth entrepreneurs in Canada and recognize them for their achievements.

Today, I am also delighted to say that I met Impact's founder, Kunal Gupta, at Polar Mobile's Toronto headquarters during the video production of Impact's new entrepreneurship campaign. The key message I took home from talking to Kunal personally was not to be afraid of the challenges that I may face as an entrepreneur, but to embrace my entrepreneurial spirit and overcome those challenges. In the end, confidence will prevail. I am really looking forward to Impact's social this weekend, and networking with even more incredible Impacters. This has been by far the best summer I have ever experienced and I want to thank Impact and Shad Valley for that.

Jackey Cheng
Hometown: Markham, ON

As I made my way downtown to the waterfront, it was unbelievable to think I was about to start my last Monday morning at Hatch Associates Ltd. My first few days on the job involved learning how to use engineering software such as AutoCad and Inventor Pro. After that, the assignment became interesting and challenging as I progressed into modeling and performing FEA stress analyses on specific devices.

Today, I spent my time developing my final report on my analyses and conclusions regarding part reliability and stress yield. Between hours of typing away and comparing data results, my colleague and I walked over to Gastown for a well anticipated lunch break where we chatted up a storm!

Despite focusing on one of Hatch’s Renewable Energy projects, I also got a taste of other industries through lunchtime presentations, KEG (Keeping Education Going) conferences, and opportunities to chat with Hatch employees, whether in the coffee room or at organized networking sessions. The large scale projects at Hatch have re-opened my eyes to what people are able to create when working as a team, piecing different disciplines together to work towards a common masterpiece.

Anna Zhuo
Hometown: Vancouver, BC

For the month of August, I have been interning at Acres Manitoba Ltd., owned by Hatch, a global engineering company. It has been a great experience, and I have enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about engineering as well as applying engineering theory to real-life situations.

So far, my time at Acres has been fun, educational, and challenging—basically, a great extension of the 4 weeks I spent at Shad Valley earlier this summer. My supervisors and co-workers are friendly and helpful, and the office environment is very pleasant and positive.

Today was Casual Friday at the office. I came in at 8 a.m. and booted up my computer. After submitting my timesheet for the week, I finished editing a spreadsheet on Excel which calculated the stability of a water-retaining structure I am working on. After, I applied Bernoulli’s equation to solve for the flow rate of the water exiting the structure via pipe. At noon I took a quick but refreshing lunch, and then returned to work. I created a spreadsheet that calculated and summarized the information I had found after applying Bernoulli’s equation by hand. Unfortunately, there was an error in the method of calculation, so I did some research in a text book to try to figure out a solution to the problem. Once I was done work I walked to the bus stop to catch my bus home, looking forward to my next week at Acres and thinking of all I have learned and applied thus far.

Rebecca Kummen
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB

After my trip on the busy early-morning subway, I arrive at Yonge and Bloor station, walk through the PATH underground tunnels to my RBC branch at 2 Bloor St. E., and start my day as a client service representative. Each day, many different types of clients come in and I tackle transactions and customer requests.

I work with all kinds of currencies, process cheques from multiple accounts, and help clients with all their needs. Even with what seems like a very basic transactions, a high level of awareness is required to ensure perfection. I review numerous clients’ financial information every day and do cross checks such us ensuring sufficient funds for withdrawals and cashed cheques. As part of my training, I did modules on privacy and confidentiality, and the bank has a strong focus on fraud protection as well.

This role requires a lot of attention to detail, good judgment, and a friendly attitude. I’m grateful that this internship allowed me to work on my weaknesses and further developed my strengths. After almost three weeks here, I realize in future, I want to have a social environment for my job. Helping out clients is definitely something I love.

Maggie Cai
Hometown: Toronto, ON

I arrived at Production Services Network (PSN) for work today at 8:30. My workspace is in the Process Engineering department so I am surrounded by P&IDs (process and instrumentation drawings) and CAD drawings while I work on my health and safety projects and complete documents for the electrical department. During the first week of my internship I was barely ever at my desk. I have spent 4 hours with each department at PSN. I got the chance to see what goes on in oil and gas project planning, piping, process engineering, electrical engineering, and pretty much every other type of engineering out there.

This morning I submitted my latest electrical project, a spreadsheet of data that is making documentation for a new project much more efficient. Today I also worked on my health and safety projects. I received feedback on my first project, a PowerPoint presentation about proper office ergonomics that has been sent out to the entire office. I am in the process of implementing my second project, educating the office on the H1N1 virus and how to stay safe during the upcoming flu season. My third project is a presentation for offshore workers about the importance of updating their health status to prevent re-injury.

Health and safety has made up a big part of my internship so far and it has opened my eyes and allowed me to learn about so many different aspects of oil and gas through my research. I’m so thankful for all the staff that have taught me and helped me at PSN and in addition to everything I’ve learned, I’m also becoming very skilled at using Microsoft Office!

Erin Langor
Hometown: St. John’s, NL

My internship is at ViXS, an early-stage tech company. My assignment while here is to build a new database for the legal/patent department. It’s a lot of work but the environment here and my great co-workers make any task seem possible. Each day, I launch myself into the stack of purple folders sitting next to my computer.

The view from my desk is nothing short of spectacular. I can see North York General hospital and I reflected on the fact that I was born there fifteen years ago, and now I’m taking on my first job only a stone’s throw away from the place it all started. This internship is a refreshing, valuable experience that I surely will carry with me for a lifetime to come and I appreciate the opportunity to make a contribution to ViXS’ success.

Derek Lam
Hometown: Toronto, ON

As part of my internship with ConocoPhillips, we toured the Vulcan gas plant. We donned our Nomex (flame retardant) suits, helmets and glasses and we were briefed by the Foreman of the plant, Murray Hartung. Murray showed us everything, and the tour made me realize just how much refining has to be done to the gas that comes out of the hole. There are numerous different cleaning processes that the gas has to go through before it is put in the pipeline, at which point it is sold from the gas plant, usually to a transport company. We were taken through several rooms and buildings, all with different purposes in creating a clean, useable gas. All of the buildings and rooms had “HAZARD”, “WARNING”, and “WEAR PROTECTIVE GEAR” signs just outside the entrance. There were literally hundreds of the signs throughout the plant.

I learned that, because the gas is not pure when it comes into the plant directly from the hole, they scrub out/filter out the stuff that is not gas. They also separate out the liquids in the gas and sell that as “condensate”. With the current low gas prices, they are more focused on producing condensate than gas. I learned a lot from my visit to the Vulcan gas plant, and enjoyed being able to see the machines in action that we talk about in the office. I feel that ConocoPhillips has provided me with a great opportunity as an intern with their company and that this has started me down the path of a great career.

Alexander Bailey
Hometown: De Winton, AB

I got up bright and early this morning for an 8 o’clock start at MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA). As I walked up to the back door, I pulled out my personalized key card so that I could get into the building. The security at MDA is top-notch because MDA deals with a lot of secured information; certain hallways are only accessible if you have a key card and almost every room in the building is locked.

My specific project at MDA is to draft an Earthquake Preparedness Plan for the company. This document is really important because 750-800 people work in this building (MDA headquarters in Vancouver). Because of the project’s critical nature, I devote all my working time to it. I’m enjoying working in MDA’s professional environment, and appreciate the chance to contribute to a plan that will help ensure all my colleague’s safety in case of earthquake.

Regina Yung
Hometown: Richmond, BC

It amazes me that it’s been three weeks since I first began working as a Shad intern at IBM’s Toronto Lab. I remember my first day of work like it was yesterday- I was amazed by the beautiful facilities and being advised that that I didn’t need to look so formal and could take off my tie. At IBM I work with five other Shad alumni (mostly from previous years) on projects which will hopefully help high school students to become more involved in computer science.

This morning I worked on developing a Facebook application to help promote our main website, Programming Contest Central (PCC). One of the great things about my department is that we are able to choose or create the projects we work on, based on our individual interests. At around 11:30 we all wrapped up what we were working on and headed to the cafeteria for some lunch. During our break we had the opportunity to look at some projects that Future Blue (another co-op/student internship program at IBM) has been working on. After hearing some presentations we decided to play a little ping pong, and soon it was back to the office to continue working. I decided to take a break from programming and work on another project. For the past 2 weeks my fellow Shads and I have been brainstorming ideas for a conference, to bring together bright undergraduate students who share a common interest in computer science. This afternoon I worked on adding to and editing the report which will be used to present all of our ideas to our supervisor. In the process of writing this blog I have realized that the time I've spent here at IBM has been an amazing experience, one that I will never forget.

Michael Lin
Hometown: North York, ON

Scanning Electron Microscope. X-Ray Spectrometer. Field Emission Microscope. - Miraculous man-made machines of science that I have only encountered briefly in textbook readings. That is, before I started my internship at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada. Though today was only the fourth day in this unpredictable learning experience, I have seen a plethora of complex devices and met a handful of passionate scientists working to investigate inks and toners from every angle possible – chemists, engineers, nanotechnologists, electricians, and computer scientists. Who knew there was so much to that old dusty printer sitting in my house?

After gulping down morning coffee, my supervisor and I got cracking on wiring the thermal sensor of a strobe stand that I will be using for the rest of my internship to microscopically examine the jetting of an innovative ink and its response to changes in environmental parameters. It only took about five re-openings of the box and many frustrated attempts at fixing the faulty meter readings for us to realize that two wires were positioned backwards. But that’s the great thing about internships – you really get a sense of the work, the fruitful bits and the bits that, well, take some time. Lunch was eaten in the beautifully sun-lit cafeteria with a rowdy bunch of university co-op students bursting with energy and humour. I spent the afternoon connecting the now-functioning temperature sensor to the rest of the impressive-looking equipment and starting the writing of a user manual that I am to compose since I will be the first one to work on the machine.

I believe what Xerox has taught me so far can be poetically summarized in the aerial shape of the research building, an unfinished question mark – to always seek out the unanswered questions in the world around me.

Lauren Long
Hometown: Toronto, ON

My third week of internship is coming to an end. For the past two and a half weeks working at a software-testing firm, I have learned that working in an office setting can be a lot of fun! Here at PQA (Professional Quality Assurance), not only do we work hard, we also play hard. What more can I ask for in a job?

I arrived at work right on time this morning in my jeans and Chuck Taylor high tops (our work environment is casual). My Shad colleagues and our ever so cheerful trainer, Edna, greeted me as I walked through the door. Yesterday was the final morning of the software testing portion of our training. This morning, we moved on to content quality assurance.

Lunch was brief; eating out with the other Shad Valley interns is always quite entertaining. Our conversations are fueled by good food and stories of our Shad experiences.

In the afternoon, my colleagues and I first worked in pairs on our Lynda.com tutorials. Then, we moved onto the Mac system where we modified and edited a video using Final Cut Pro 7. It was a bit frustrating at first, but we were pleased to master the program by the end of the afternoon.

Diana Sun
Hometown: Fredericton, NB

Today was another awesome day working in the planning and policy division of Municipal Affairs in Newfoundland. It was an exciting day filled with many new activities not entirely different from my Shad Valley experience. It started out with a trip to see the new Robin Hood Bay waste management facility. Upon arrival we were given a detailed presentation about the current composition of the area and plans they have for the future. We were then given a tour around the perimeter where we could see all the different aspects of the area. It was very gratifying to not only discover that all waste and dump sites will be reduced, but also how they plan to accomplish this.

When the tour was finished we returned to the office. My Shad colleague and I continued to write the newspaper articles that we've been working on this week. The goal of these articles is to make people aware of the importance of leadership in the areas of information management and project management. Today we got one step closer to completion and hopefully, one step closer to being published.

Our next adventure was lunch with Roger Fitzgerald, the current speaker of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. While giving us a tour he provided us with all kinds of information about how bills are made and the process they must undergo before they can be considered legislature. He also educated us on who will talk during a typical meeting and for how long. I felt privileged to be given this inside look at things.

We finished the remainder of the day with some more work on our articles. Today was a great day. We were able to get out and learn through new experiences.

Mark Shea
Hometown: Fogo, NL

Monday mornings are always hard. Work is a forty-five minute drive away, so I have to get up at six a.m. to get ready. My drive picks me up and we arrive at the Bell Aliant office just before eight-thirty. Andre, who provides my assignments, has not arrived yet, so I start up my laptop and pc and continue working on the project I started Friday.

The project is working with the program Compass. I am taking Microsoft Word documents and copying them to Microsoft FrontPage then into Compass, thus cutting out the need for so much formatting. Once the document is in Compass I compare it to the original Word document and format it to look as close as possible. This will create a database that the Security Management Group’s customers can access for help when it is necessary.

Around ten-thirty I take a break and make a run to Tim Horton’s for some caffeine. I have a small snack before returning to work. I have many documents to go through so I work hard for the rest of the day. It will probably take two or three weeks to complete all of the documents, so other than lunch and another break in the afternoon I am busy all day. At four-thirty I pack up my things and leave the office. I meet my drive and we begin the journey home. I make it home just in time for supper, after a tiring, but good day at work.

Grant Charlton
Hometown: Hoyt, NB

Over the past week I have been interning at Canadian Pacific in the Communications and Public Affairs department. It has been an interesting and new experience, and I have been able to learn about the many different aspects that make up this department. Though I have also had the opportunity to explore each floor and learn about the different jobs that this company has while I was putting up their monthly calendars. In addition, I get to use Photoshop on a daily basis to create contact cards for the graphic designers and to edit photos that are to be used on the company’s internal website, RailCity.

During my four days here I have also been invited to attend one of their weekly meetings where they discussed projects that they have coming up in the future. One of their main projects is the Spiral Tunnels, as it is almost the 100th anniversary of this innovative transportation method, but Canadian Pacific is also a sponsor of the 2010 Olympics so they are heavily involved in planning right now. One of my most exciting tasks so far was writing an article that was featured on the daily newsletter that is sent out to the entire company! Overall, it has been an eventful week and I am very grateful to the other employees that have been very kind and welcoming to me.

Jennifer Mo
Hometown: Calgary, AB

As the sun sets on that ninth wonderful day of work at Ericsson, I turn around and look at the tall building in which I worked today. Feeling a mix of pride and joy for the work I accomplished through the day, I slowly walk toward my car, thinking about the people I met, the things I learnt and the progress I made so far.

But then, you must ask yourself: “What makes that boy so proud?” Well, first of all, let me describe a normal day in the life of Olivier during his internship at Ericsson Canada and you might understand the reasons I feel this way! As the day starts, I settle down at my desk (you heard well, my own desk!!), open my computer, read my messages and then start working. Christine, which is my supervisor, then comes to greet me and wish me a great day. I then start working on the tasks I was assigned while people from the floor come and go, chatting happily about all sorts of things. At lunch time, I go downstairs in the cafeteria where I sit under a tall tree through which the sun’s rays gently warm my face and arms. On my left, there is a father who brought his little boy to work with him and on my right, there is a director slowly eating a delicious-looking salmon filet.

Afterwards, the afternoon is pretty calm but similar to the morning. At around three o’clock, Christine comes to my office to wish me a great evening and tells me not to work too much at home. At around five o’clock, I close my computer and head toward my car. On the way, I chat with an employee I have never met and wish a good evening to the security guard who returns the wish. Now, do you understand why I am so proud of my day at Ericsson Canada?

Olivier Gilbert
Hometown: Beloeil, QC

“You’re done already?” is the usual response from my supervisor at TBT Engineering. So far, I’ve been working in the corporate office. I fairly enjoy being at work in an office with these hardworking, kind people and I’m grateful for this experience. Sometime in the future, though, I’ll be sent out to various areas such as surveying and environmental, which is exciting.

Today, I’ve done various office duties, like any other work day, such as binding piles of documents, organizing cell phone documents, and framing certificates. Most of the work is new to me but I’m getting the hang of it through practice. Organizing cell phone documents involved moving them into piles of expiry year, unlike alphabetical or numerical order. Binding the documents was hard work for the arms as I used a self-use machine but I managed to finish in an hour before I had lunch. It is interesting waiting for what my supervisor will hand me next because every task is different from the previous. No matter if it’s challenging or not, I accomplish things with good work ethic and an open mind.

Pamela Angees
Hometown: Thunder Bay, ON

Today at my internship with EnCana, I learned how to read piping and instrumentation diagrams, or P&IDs. These diagrams show the various pipes, tanks, heat exchangers, and other processes used at an oil and gas facility. After figuring out where all the numbers and lines went, I traced all the lines with diluent running through the Christina Lake facility. Each sheet would have diluent arriving from another P&ID, travelling through pipes and other processes, and either mixing with another fluid; ending the path, since it wouldn’t be only diluent anymore, or leading off the page to yet another P&ID. Like a cross between a labyrinth and a treasure hunt, it involved great dexterity with a pink highlighter, and many trips to the printer to retrieve the next P&ID.

Other tasks involved in my role with the hazard and safety section of Integrated Oil has included finding incident reports that can be classified as process safety incidents (PSIs), and proofreading an evacuation plan and a fire policy. I guess I’ll pretty much be an expert on process safety by the end of this, I’ve been learning so much about all the things that need to be considered to keep the workplace safe.

Evangelian Collings
Hometown: Calgary, AB