We Made a Difference. We Made it Together. WEMADEIT.

passion

Mikhaela Meznaric

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Q&A WITH engHERO: Mikhaela MeznaricMikhaela-Meznaric

Q: What’s one thing you wish you knew about engineering back when you were in high school?

That there are types of engineering like biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering. Not everything in engineering was about design and architecture. Also knowing which university specialized in the specialized engineering program. Taking co-op in high school would have really helped to know how a life is like for an engineer.

Q: What’s your proudest accomplishment as an engineer?

Successfully being both an engineer and a political science student because they are two different worlds and seeing the connection and discovering my passion in both really amused me. For example, water treatment project experience from both political science and engineering was involved and these two really impacted society.

Q: Tell me about a time in your career when your work has been about discovery or curiosity?

My second degree. Her curiosity in the engineering interest in tech designing by extending that skill on helping people and providing them with clean water.

Q: What are you doing these days?

Currently an administrative assistant at the University of British Columbia and looking for a job for her degree, water resources. She has done engineering degree and EIT after. She first started doing civil engineering. After she finished her degree she wanted to do something with green energy which brought her into water intersection which requires both tech and energy as her passion.

Q: Do you feel your work contributes to society? How so?

She hopes her job will contribute to society by providing clean water for Canadians. She believes that Canadians extract natural resources because we depend on it and we should clean our water without polluting it. She wants to be part of the process of cleaning the water.

Q: Why do we need more female engineers?

She believes that we more females because many females are as interested in technology as males are and they have another perspective that will develop the engineering world. Both male and female use thing made by engineers. So it is very important that female engineers being another perspective so they we provide good things to the society.

Q: When you were becoming an engineer, were you nervous and stressed out about all the math and science? What made you push through and become an engineer? Were you sure that you wanted to become an engineer when you were in gr12?

She wasn’t as nervous because both math and sciences were her strongest subjects in high school. She interest in technologies made her push through to become engineering. She wasn’t fully sure to become an engineer but with a help and encouragement of her two friends she made it through.

Issues We Care About

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As members of the WEMADEIT Youth Think Tank we asked and were asked, A LOT of questions. After some reflection, we thought you could stand to hear what we think. Here it is:

“I am most passionate about the perception of girls as not being well-suited for an engineering career. I don’t understand why this is. We’re just as intelligent and capable as guys, so why aren’t we given credit for it? It’s very frustrating. In society, we’ve supposedly eliminated gender bias and sexism, but I don’t think that it is truly gone.”

“I think I’m most passionate about injustice. As the second youngest in my family, me and my younger sister were always treated differently, like we weren’t important because we weren’t as old as the rest (they are just 2 years older) and to this day we are still treated that way and its injust. Also, injustice among races has always got to me because its just not right! I crave justice.”

“I’ve always noticed people being a little sexist, even to me. I’m pretty athletic and my friend always tells me how much weaker I am than him and he always brags that he’s smart, and I don’t think he really notices that I’m just as smart and I’m just as athletic even though I might not be as strong. I find this absolutely annoying and angering, and I want to know why males get to be the dominant gender.”

“Everyday you see countless people using plastic bottles and throwing garbage on to the ground. There are numerous ways we are polluting and destroying our environment. It pains me to think that someday my great great grandchildren will live in a literal wasteland.”

“We are in 2014 and things like Racism and Sexism are still a problem. Have we forgotten Martin Luther King’s and Malala’s Speeches?”

“I am passionate about foreign aid. I believe that financial aid from wealthy countries and charities is not the answer for lowering poverty rates in third world countries. Also, going to different countries and building houses or schools sometimes does not help the country be self sufficient. I am passionate about this because I want poverty rates to decrease.”

“My family is very judgmental about what girls can and cant do and I’ve always known i can do more than that, so I’ve been trying to break out of the mold they have made for me. I want girls everywhere to feel like they are capable of doing what ever they want to, and purse what ever dreams they have and not be held back by the rules rand regulations that society puts on gender.”

“I am most passionate about the issue of gender inequality because I feel as though it is such an obvious injustice that reaches every human at some level because gender identity is the one thing that all of us share in some form and thus all of us have the potential to be subject to gender prejudice. Honestly, I cant think of a better answer than ‘why wouldn’t I be’ , equal rights and opportunity for everybody is the key to fixing so many other problems. Gender Equality is the gateway to equality in every way.”

“It bothers me how the media can portray one specific body type as beautiful and girls everywhere will believe it. Almost everyone I know believes it. I even believe it sometimes.”