Social Involvement of YPs, by Simon Davidson -Canada

On a daily basis, consulting engineers are not evidently noticed as a part of our society. We rarely have to work for individuals instead mostly worked for private or public entities. But our designs are accomplished to enhance the quality of life of the whole community. Through the design of roads, buildings, schools and other infrastructures, our work is the ground base of any functioning cities.

 

For years, our corporations, sometime even individuals have been funding charity foundations, sports activities, as well as local and international events. It is an efficient way to redistribute wealth among our societies and increase our visibility and reputation. But the main disadvantages remains always the same. Who are these engineers? What do they do?

 

Without these means at hand, Young Professionals (YPs) all across Canada have find a way to raise awareness among the communities as well as contribute significantly to its prosperity. Two great example of such implication and their impact on communities are from Québec and British Columbia.

 

In the Province of Québec, a special initiative to unite YP`s from different work sectors such as law and finance has also been launched this year. Project Parallel 40, is thriving and progressing with great interest. This project is consisting of painting artistic patterns on concrete structures below the TransCanada highway passing through Montreal, the project aims to beautify the urban structure and provide a green space oasis in a once deserted space. The project also pairs young engineers with children to inspire and teach, through mentoring, about consulting engineering. Individual Montreal citizens and companies have volunteered their time to help paint the structure and collect funds to finance the project.

 

In British Columbia, the provincial YP Group is very active within the community and offers many outreach initiatives to its members. This year the group is organizing a Consultants’ Contraption event in which YPs from five member companies will be participating. Each company will be designing and building their own Rube Goldberg (chain reaction) module and all modules will then be connected together to transfer a golf ball from one end to the other. All the proceeds raised from the event will be donated to “Geering Up UBC Engineering & Science for Kids”.

 

Furthermore, the YPG-BC in partnership with Science World, is providing, over the summer, to its members with an opportunity to volunteer at the SciTech summer camp. Young professionals will be hosting a 60-minute engineering workshop once a week for kids aged 10-12 years old, introducing them to engineering through a fun activity such as building a paddle powered boat. YPG- BC believes that investing in youth and YPs ensures the development of the next generation of leaders in consulting engineering.

  

Note:

I would like to specially thank Christine Harries and Tijana Smiljanic for their contribution to this article.