Scholarship Essay Entry – Eu-Jin L.

I am Eu-Jin and I will be entering my fourth year of studies at the University of Alberta in the Chemical Engineering program. My parents have always encouraged and believed that I can be successful as long as I put in the effort. As my role models, they have inspired me to dream big and work towards my goals. In this essay I will share a part of my dreams and how I hope to make a difference in the world.

My ambition is to become an excellent engineer working in the oil sands industry. There has been a lot of discussion and press coverage regarding the environmental impact of oil sands development in Alberta. Upon completion of my degree, I hope to be part of the working solution to improve our efforts in reducing our environmental impact such as reducing carbon emissions to tailings reclamation to working on processes that will minimize our water usage in order to optimize plant operations in providing a reliable energy source.  The community can benefit from this as a reduced environmental impact will lower our demand of diverted river water for industrial processes and reduce the size and turnaround time of tailing ponds.  From a global standpoint, a reduction in carbon emissions could help reduce our impact of climate change.

I recognize that I currently lack the both the experience and the expertise in order to make a significant impact from a technical standpoint. However, a more experienced professional engineer that I had the opportunity to work with once told me that an engineer's job is to serve for the benefit of society.  One way he could accomplish that was to help others around him to become better engineers. I firmly believe with the right attitude, dedication, and hard work I can become a capable engineer and inspire those around me.