EUS President Veronica Knott

Photo Credit Jill Barnett

This week I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing current EUS President Veronica Knott. Since moving from Ontario in 2011, Veronica has had a huge impact here at UBC especially in her position as EUS president. 

1.     How did you become involved in EUS?

My involvement with the EUS started in my second year. On a whim, I decided to go to a engineering conference in Alberta as an EUS delegate. This was my first taste of conferences and meeting other people who were involved in engineering societies. After this, I was hooked. I became Assistant to the VP External the day after that conference and never looked back. The EUS was this crazy group of spirited people who were unbelievably proud to be engineers. I’d found the place I fit in.

2.     What made you want to become an engineer?

There isn’t really one easy answer to this question for me. In high school I loved science, especially chemistry, but I also loved history. I actually applied to universities for both engineering and history, and I actually didn’t decide which program I was going to go into until basically the last possible day. In the end, I chose engineering because of how diverse the program was. With 10 different departments, there was the ability for me to explore and study a wide range of topics.

3.     What are your major goals for the EUS?

The way I see it, the EUS has two major goals every year: to best serve our students and to best represent our students. Every year the EUS volunteers work unbelievably hard to achieve these goals and this year my team has been achieving some amazing things. Specific goals to my term as President though, have more to do with changing some internal aspects of the society. Last year, the EUS took a serious look at inclusivity. We realized that it was time to do an evaluation and to revisit every event we run. We have started this initiative and seen some great changes this year. I wanted to fix it all in one year, but it was definitely a learning curve to realize this is something that is going to take a lot longer to achieve. I want the EUS to be a place that every engineering student is proud to be a member of and is happy that this organization is representing them. Event evaluations, re-envision traditions, and more diversity to the types of events have been some of the things we have accomplished this year. As well, we’ve been spending time preparing for next year when we get to move into our new Engineering Student Centre. We are getting excited for the new building and the possibilities it will open up for the EUS.

4.     What has been the most rewarding part about being EUS President?

There are a lot of rewarding aspects of being EUS President, I mean everything from red onesies, free food, or getting to go to cool events. But I think the most rewarding part and the reason the sleepless nights are worth it is because I actually feel like I’m making a difference. A perfect example of this for me, was being able to lead the creation of the Iron Pin Ceremony. This ceremony is something that will hopefully happen for years to come to welcome all incoming engineering students to the EUS community. Being able to create something like this, where I can see students appreciate and feel welcomed into our community is by far the most rewarding part.

5.     What has been your biggest challenge so far?

Time management hands down. There is just so much to do, I honestly could do EUS President as my full time job for multiple years and still wouldn’t be able to achieve all the things I want. It’s difficult managing school, EUS and trying to have a social life. I honestly probably spend around an hour every week just trying to make my schedule actually work and be realistic. I’m lucky though that I have an amazing executive team, who cover for me when things get too much.

6.     What do you say to those who think engineering is mostly guys?

If we are looking at this by purely a math standpoint, they are right. Women are a minority in engineering but this is slowly improving. Our Dean, Marc Parlange, has made a commitment to improving the number of women in engineering. Our Faculty has done an amazing job at running events and outreach to high schools to help promote the engineering profession to girls. We also are lucky enough to at UBC have the NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, Elizabeth Croft as our Associate Dean as well as Sheryl Staub-French, a Civil Engineering Professor, hold the GoldCorp Professorship for Women in Engineering. With these strong female role models our Faculty has created a great support system for the girls who are in engineering at UBC, and made it their mission to attract more women into our program.

7.     What is your advice for incoming or first year Engineers?

Get Involved! I can’t say this enough – your university degree will be so much more if you do more than just your classes. Engineering is tough and overwhelming and sometimes it can feel like you don’t have any spare time – but what I’m saying is make it. Learn time management skills, take an extra semester but do something interesting and crazy with your time at UBC. Being an engineer is about being creative and innovative, so get involved with a design team, take on your own project or just go to a few events.

8.     Everyone is wondering, how did you get the beetle on top of Buchanan tower?

The EUS is not involved with any illegal pranks. However, we would like to recognize the impressive feat of engineering involved in that prank.

9.    Is the EUS hosting any interesting upcoming events?

Yes! On November 18 at 12:30pm the EUS along with Women in Engineering and Alpha Omega Epsilon will be hosting the 14 Not Forgotten Ceremony to remember the 14 women who lost their lives on Dec 6 1989 at Ecole Polytechnique.