I am very glad I had the chance to do an internship in Electrical Engineering this past summer. I worked for Agnico Eagle Mines Limited at their LaRonde mine located in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. It is principally a gold mine established in 1988 with a life expectancy that has been extended to 2024 because of a new deposit recently found. This mine produced 5 million ounces of gold since their opening and is now the deepest in the Americas with more than 3 kilometers of depth. During my internship, I was working with the electrical maintenance team for the concentrator. It was such an incredible experience to really have to deal with electrical industrial problematics because it helped me to see that what I have learned in class is really useful in the mining industry, especially for all the electrical motors they have. I was supervised by an Electrical Engineer and had the chance to have a great team to work with. All my colleagues were always ready to help me when I was facing challenges I needed a little help. My internship with Agnico Eagle was a very enriching experience and I hope I will be able to get an internship for the next summer at their Meadowbank mine, which is in Baker Lake, Nunavut.

 

Also, during the past summer, I had the chance to live the amazing experience to go to the 2016 Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) for a second year as a member of the Laval University Aerospace Group. It was still in Green River, Utah, so it was long way from home! Overall, we had a very nice experience even if we met some electronics problems when we arrived there, but we were still able to launch our rocket without any problem. That is, regarding our flight, we reached 10,086 feet out of the 10,000 feet goal we had, which gave us the fourth place in the basic category out of 44 teams from all around the world. We are very proud of us because it is the first time we reach such a good altitude in this international competition. With two years done as a member of the Laval University Aerospace Group, I learned a lot on many aspects of what it takes to design and build a rocket on almost every subsections of the project. This includes also all the administrative part it takes for a student project like us to keep growing. I am very glad to be now the director of our group and I will work hard with every member of my team as we are looking forward to participate to the 2017 IREC that will take place during an event called the Spaceport America Cup at the Spaceport America facilities located near Truth or Consequences, in New Mexico.

 

I wish you the very best for the year to come!