On November 16, four students in Niagara College’s Renewable Energies Technician program attended the Energy Roundtable conference in Toronto.
Program Coordinator Bryan Mewhiney invited the student delegation which included David Groves, Colby Vanderwier, Abubakkar Siddique, and Adarsh Sathyan, who had a chance to interact with industry representatives and learn about the future of Canada’s energy infrastructure as well as workforce opportunities.
“Any opportunity to brush shoulders with industry representatives helps students build and expand their networks which regularly leads to gainful employment, and is something that I’ll continue pursuing as often as possible,” explained Mewhiney.
“The Energy Round Table brought together some of the highest members of some of the biggest companies in the Energy Sector,” said Vanderwier, a second-year student from Smithville.
Vanderwier spoke with the CEO of Siemens Canada about the skilled labor shortage affecting the energy sector
“The event greatly increased my confidence in choosing my course here at Niagara College,” said Vanderwier. “Every person I talked to reiterated the fact that there was a serious lack of skilled labour in all areas of energy. It encouraged me to dive deeper into my studies as there is a great abundance of jobs out there for Renewable Energies students.”
“It was a wonderful experience. We didn’t expect to meet the CEO’s and Presidents of the leading renewable energy companies of Canada,” said Siddique, who is completing his first year in the program and originally from Saudi Arabia. “Everyone was so kind to share their thoughts and experience’s regarding the opportunities we as a students have after graduating from our program.”
The students heard from power companies about regulations impacting the future of renewable energy in Canada, and Minister of Energy, the Honourable Todd Smith, also shared his views.
“We had enough time to chat with the respective companies and gain some knowledge about what they do and how they do it. We could also connect with the most of them on LinkedIn. It an amazing experience and we would like to thank our Professor Bryan for providing us with a great opportunity,” said Siddique.
“It was truly a wonderful experience to have the chance to attend such an event and share what we learned in classes. One of my best memories in Canada so far,” said Sathyan, who studied physics in his hometown of Kannur, India before coming to NC.
Sathyan noted valuable conversation with Diana Stephenson, Senior Vice president of BC Hydro, as well as other esteemed guests, about the potential of renewable and what students must do to enter the field.
“We didn’t feel out of place as these top individuals were so friendly and were very much eager to listen to our thoughts and share their ideas with us,” said Sathyan. “Something that opened my eye was how much the industry was in need for individuals who were pursuing renewable energy. We are forever grateful to Bryan for providing us with this opportunity.”
