UPEI announces winners of Co-op Awards
Every year, UPEI Co-operative Education recognizes its exceptional students and employers with the UPEI Co-op Awards. Students are nominated by their work-term employers, and employers are nominated by the students they have employed for a work term within the past calendar year. Tyler Gallant is the 2020 UPEI Business Co-op Student of the Year. Desiree Rehel is the 2020 UPEI Science Co-op Student of the Year. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) is the 2020 Co-op Employer of the Year.
Gallant (BBA’21) was nominated by his employer for his co-op work term with the Public Service Commission of the Government of Prince Edward Island. His nomination letter said he exemplified the role of a public servant as a part of the PSC team by always serving with excellence, accountability, and respect. Gallant was recognized for his skills in writing, analysis, and the attention to detail that he brought to his work, his resilience and adaptability, as well as his initiative in participating in professional development across government, including through the Policy Hackathon.
“I believe that when you are pushed out of your comfort zone, real and impactful learning can take place,” said Gallant. “This has been my experience at the PSC. When looking into the future, I can’t help but reflect on how supportive the PSC leadership group has been throughout my work terms and continue to be to this day. With time and experience, I have seen my role expand and move in directions that I would have never thought it would, which is exciting, and I cannot thank the PSC enough for this.”
Rehel (BSc’22) was nominated by her employer, Dr. James Polson in UPEI’s Department of Physics, for her role as research assistant. He described her as an astonishingly efficient and effective researcher. With minimal guidance from her supervisor, Rehel designed and wrote her own simulation programs from scratch, and by using them she acquired enough high-quality results for a manuscript anticipated to be submitted to a scientific journal. With excellent work performance and enthusiasm about public speaking, Rehel was one of a few undergraduate students who gave a presentation for the Soft Matter Symposium at the 2020 Congress of the Canadian Association of Physicists. She was also recognized for the mentorship she provided to fellow research assistants.
“Through this experience, I learned a lot about how to work with a team of people, even if we were not working on the same problem,” she said. “I also learned a lot about how to communicate information effectively to others…[and]…further developed my ability to be flexible and to adapt to situations as they arise. This work term had a significant impact on my career choices and provided opportunities to improve on some skills and gain experience.”
The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) was nominated by business student Anna Mallard (BBA’21) for her combined winter and summer 2020 work-term experiences as a student policy officer. ACOA’s positive work environment taught Mallard how to better approach strategic and creative thinking when working on professional working agreements, research and policy papers, and various assignments. In her nomination, Mallard cited direct supervisor Patti-Sue Lee’s natural, empowering leadership abilities as an integral part of her success as a student employee. ACOA has been an active employer in UPEI’s Co-operative Education program, having consistently hired students for work terms over the past years and providing them with valuable and challenging work assignments.
For more information about UPEI's Co-operative Education program, please visit upei.ca/co-op.
