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Host:Hey Chloe, thank you so much for coming. I’d just like to ask you a few questions about your journey to STEM. To start off, could you please tell me a little bit about yourself?

Chloe Chevallier:I’m a first-year studying architectural engineering in University of Waterloo, and I have a particular interest in sustainable design and construction. That’s kind of what I’m looking to do for my career. But, aside from that, I really enjoy playing soccer and field hockey, and yeah, normal things like that.

Host:Why did you pick to attend Waterloo? And how is it different from other universities you were considering?

Chloe Chevallier:The main reason I chose Waterloo was because of the co-op program. I think that’s a pretty common answer for a lot of students. You get to do 6 terms in school and 6 terms on co-op. So you get to experience bunch of different jobs and explore different career opportunities, which is really nice for STEM. There’s so many different avenues you can go into, so you can explore all the different ones before you really decide for your career.

Host:So what courses are you taking now?

Chloe Chevallier:Lots of different ones. The usual, math and sciences, calculus, linear algebra, and because my program also has an architecture part to it, I also take some art classes, design classes, few one like building structures and that sort of thing.

Host:So what kind of courses did you take in highschool to prepare yourself?

Chloe Chevallier:I took as many AP classes I could, so like those Advanced Placement ones. I took physics, chemistry, calculus, pre-calculus. I also took some English classes and research English classes as well. So the AP seminar and AP research, which were really cool. Yeah, I overloaded my schedule a little bit.

Host:Do you think that really prepared you for university?

Chloe Chevallier:Definitely for my first term. Lot of my classes felt like review.

Host:So if you could go back and give yourself, give your highschool self some advice, what would it be and why?

Chloe Chevallier:I’d say put a little less pressure on yourself? It’s like hard and highschool is supposed to be a bit more fun and enjoyable. Obviously, still challenge yourself and push yourself to get good grades and do well on school. But you don’t need to put so much pressure on yourself right from the beginning. It’s not quite as hard as people make it out to be to get into university. I mean depending where you want to go, ofcourse, but yeah I think just putting a little bit less pressure on yourself is good.

Host:And how did the application process for Waterloo go?

Chloe Chevallier:It was fine. There was just like your usual form to fill out. You answer key questions about yourself. It’s pretty typical for most universities. So answer key questions about yourself about why you want to attend the university. Submit your grades, also get your high school or like the province to submit your grades. And then Waterloo had an interview as well for engineering. It was optional, but it was no problem [inaudible] few questions about yourself. So you want to make sure that you’re going to succeed there.

Host:That’s really cool. Why did you choose engineering?

Chloe Chevallier:I chose engineering because of my mom. She’s actually a civil engineer and so growing up, I got to see all the projects she works on. And I also got to see few of the struggle she faced being a female in STEM. So I really wanted to go into STEM, and be one of those leaders and kind of show girls that they can do it too, because I think seeing my mom in that position, really influenced me to continue and pursue STEM.

Host:And would you say that there are a lot of girls who are pursuing engineering?

Chloe Chevallier:Not enough. There’s… It’s definitely getting there. There’s more and more. Waterloo’s done a really good job. Their gender ratios are almost 50/50. In my program, there’s actually more girls than guys, and it’s about 60/40. So that’s another thing with Waterloo, like they have good gender ratios, but it’s still a work in progress. There’s definitely not enough females in the industry.

Host:Do you feel challenged with your school work?

Chloe Chevallier:Yeah. Some classes, yeah. They don’t teach you everything in highschool so you have to keep learning more. And also the way that they teach you at university is very different. There’s a lot more students in each class so it’s much less personal experience and you really have to reach out to the teachers if you want help. So it’s easy to fall behind or easy to kind of take a step back and let your grades fall. So, yeah it’s difficult and it takes a bit of adapting. But it’s definitely possible and it’s fine if you put a bit of work into it.

Host:You mentioned you play soccer and field hockey. If your school work is really difficult, how do you balance your time?

Chloe Chevallier:That’s a good question. I had to cut back on some sports. I was still able to join intramural soccer so I play once a week, but definitely not the same level as I played before. I used to play like 4-5 times a week. So, yeah I had to cut back a little bit but I think we always forget how much time there really is in the day. There’s more time than you think as long as you just plan for it. So, having a commitment like that was really nice. I was forced to go to soccer and I made time to go to soccer and then I got a bit of exercise and [inaudible].

Host:Would you say your sleep schedule has been maintaining or?

Chloe Chevallier:Umm… No. I have been sleeping less. I still get a decent amount of sleep just because I didn’t have really early classes, but I’m sure once in person school starts up again, I will get much less sleep. But going to bed later is definitely a thing. Staying up doing work or... I mean in the night, it’s kind of when you have time to see your friends and relax, you work all day, so also just hanging out with people [inaudible] late into the night. But, it’s important to try and keep your sleep schedule, I think. It’s just hard. It’s normal.

Host:So why is STEM important to you?

Chloe Chevallier:I think STEM is very important because it is kind of at the foundation of everything. Arts are very important too, that’s why STEAM is emerging. But if you look at things around you, like a pen uses some sort of technology, like a mechanism to make it work; your laptop needs engineering and technology and different people in computer science to make it work so, like everything we do requires some form of STEM, so I think it is very important to understand it and very useful as well.

Host:What’s the co-op like?

Chloe Chevallier:Yeah, so co-op, how it works is you apply to jobs through the Waterloo system. Different universities have their own systems and you can also look for your own jobs outside of it. But, basically you look for a job on the term before you start working, and then you get some form of job related to your field, and work there for 4 months. Sometimes 8 but generally 4 months. And yeah, you gain some experience and decide if you like it. If you do, you can try and work there again the next term and if you don’t, then you keep searching for something else. It’s a good way to learn about yourself and kind of learn what your interests are. But, yeah I applied to about 150 jobs on “Waterloo Works”, and didn’t hear back, so it’s difficult to find a job but just don’t give up. I mean eventually you’ll find one.

Host:So what kind of jobs are you looking at?

Chloe Chevallier:I applied to the mostly jobs with construction companies. A lot of project assistants, project coordinator, a few estimator jobs, that sort of thing. I applied to one that was like a STEM workshop leader, we were like workshop coordinator, similar to what Millennium does but it’s a larger organization.

Host:So what do you see yourself doing in like 20 years?

Chloe Chevallier:I hope to get a Masters in business actually. So that I can work in, more like an entrepreneurial type of job in the construction industry, still. I really like sustainable buildings. Not sure if you heard of like lead or passive house, these are sort of like standards that certain construction companies [inaudible] builds follow. And so they are more sustainable, some of them are like Netzeros so like zero energy emissions. So yeah, I hope to work something in like in that area and maybe start my own company, we’ll see. Whatever happens, happens.

Host:How big of a jump do you think university is from high school?

Chloe Chevallier:I think it depends on how you prepare yourself and what you study. For me it wasn’t too big a jump, but online school probably made a little bit different than it usually is. Yeah, I know some people had different experiences than I did but I didn’t find it too too bad because the classes I took were university level. But a few people, I know around me really really struggled with the change. There was a lot more work, and lot more challenging, and a lot less support. So you just have to take in more initiative than you do in high school.

I didn’t find there was that many like actual transition programs. The university sends a lot of emails and so there were a few things like orientations supposed to have a few programs to get you used to it. There’s also lots of upper year students that are very very helpful. So in my program, because we’re already specified, it’s a smaller group of us, so the upper year students actually reached out to our entire program and were there to help us and give us advice, which was very nice. So like maybe there might be some facebook groups, you can look there, that’s really good way. I think you just have to take the initiative yourself.

The university does a bit less than coming from elementary school to high school, there’s a lot more from the school. But at university, there’s a lot, especially with students, really look for students. They’re always really helpful and willing to give advice.

Host:So, did you always know you were gonna be an architectural engineer, or was that something that came to you later on.

Chloe Chevallier:It came to me later on. I found the program, when I was in grade 10 and when I found the program, it’s kind of when I decided, because it was brand new at that time, towards the end of my high school [inaudible]. But originally, I wanted to be a vet when I was little, and then an architect, but I realized that I didn’t have enough skills in like arts, so I went over to architectural engineering.

Host:Can you talk a bit about student life at Waterloo, and how it has lived up or not lived up to said expectations, prior to COVID.

Chloe Chevallier:Waterloo has a pretty bad reputation, in terms of student life, so my expectations were very low going into it. I picked the school mostly because of the program and was worried about student life, but I’ve heard a lot about people say it’s what you make of it so like you put yourself out there then you’ll have a good experience. And I think that’s very true. I was kind of worried but it’s definitely true, if you put yourself out there, there’s a good experience. Just like meet new people as much as you can, because that’s one of the reasons I went to res(residents), is to meet new people because with COVID it’s really difficult. And I made lots of new friends there so and I still talk to them all the time. So I think, yeah just like try and take on those opportunities, with COVID it’s harder but you make a choice to go to residents and that’s a choice I made.

Also depending on what your scene is, there’s study groups, you can go to parties, that sort of thing. Waterloo is very close to Laurier. Probably not a good idea during COVID to go to a party but in not COVID times that’s definitely an option. So it really depends on what your scene is. But I think Waterloo it’s easier to kind of fall back and just study, but if you find some people who agree with you and also want a good student life, then you can kind of help each other out and take breaks from studying and go play games, go like do random things, or whatever.

Host:That’s a lot of insightful experience you shared with us today. Again, thank you so much for coming on UnlockingSTEM.

Chloe Chevallier:No problem, thanks for having me!

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