An Okotokian has been awarded a scholarship aimed at highlighting women in the STEM field.

Camryn William, a third-year materials engineering student at the University of Alberta, is one of the five winners of the 2021 CEMF Undergraduate Women in Engineering Scholarship, valued at $5000.

It's enough to make a reasonable dent in her tuition, which is a relief for William.

"It's really nice that I'm able to focus on extracurriculars more now that I have come extra funding, so I can spend less time worrying about maybe a second job or working overtime, and now I get to be more involved with the clubs at my university."

Her involvement with those clubs, which include the Materials Engineering Students Society and the Diversity in Engineering Club, made it easier to get letters of recommendation from faculty members at U of A for her application for the scholarship.

She says the application had some other requirements, one of which saw her returning to Okotoks to give presentations at local schools.

"We had to write a reason why we thought we deserved it, we had to make a presentation about engineering for high school or junior high students, so this past week, I gave two presentations to some grade 9 classes at JPII here in Okotoks about what engineering is, all the different types of engineering, what it means to be an engineer, and to receive the scholarship that was mandatory. The feedback was great, I loved it."

The opportunity was an honour for William, who says she wished that sort of thing was available when she was in middle school.

"I really appreciated giving these presentations, because when I was in grade 9, I would have loved something like that; just a little more insight about different programs you can take in university, being a successful student, what classes you need to take in high school and just giving you a direction."

As for the future, William says she's considering putting her engineering knowledge to work in failure analysis, but she's got a fair bit of time to pick a career path.

 

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