“I love problem solving and understanding how things work,” says Mechanical Engineering Technology student Samantha Woodstock. “The more complex and detail-oriented the problem, the more rewarding it is to solve.”
Woodstock, who graduates on June 14 with the highest grade-point average in the School of Technology, says it’s not just solving complex, real-world problems that drew her to the mechanical engineering program at NC; it also called on her love of math and science.
“This industry also has many different career paths available, from more hands-on to more theory-based,” she says.
Woodstock will be presented with the Dean’s Award during the 3 p.m. convocation ceremony. Though it’s an achievement she’s proud of, she was nonetheless surprised when she was notified of it.
“I feel very honoured–and also feel a little disbelief,” she says. “I have worked very hard over the past four years, and I am incredibly proud that I was able to achieve this award. I had high aspirations when I started the program, but I never believed I would achieve an honour like this.”
It was NC’s “excellent co-op program” that first attracted Woodstock to the college. Since it was a new field of study for her, gaining hands-on work experience while learning was important. She always knew she wanted to enter an engineering discipline. Ultimately, she found that mechanical engineering was the most interesting and aligned the best with her goals.
Getting top grades, she says, was secondary to thoroughly understanding the material she was learning.
“Getting good grades was not what I was ultimately aiming for, but what the grades represented: that I had the ability to understand and solve any problem,” she says, adding she credits her success in the program to being “very disciplined and hardworking.”
But success doesn’t come without its fair share of challenges, and Woodstock says it was tough to adapt to an online education environment because it kept her from learning hands-on subjects without the benefit of hands-on experience.
Online learning also requires more self-discipline to keep on top of everything, and has an independent learning element to it, she says. “Fortunately, we had amazing professors who were able to fill in the gaps, and my co-op experiences at THK Rhythm Automotive (St. Catharines) and INNIO (Welland) gave me a lot of hands-on experience that complemented my education well.”
She says these experiences–combined with in-class learning–set her up for a promising future in the industry.
“The Mechanical Engineering Technology program is very well rounded and the courses I have taken have given me the ability to enter many different career paths. My co-op experiences also gave me great work experience that complemented and expanded on what I learned in school.
“I really enjoyed my time at Niagara College, and I feel confident I will be able to tackle any challenge my future holds.”
