Lakeland College's heavy oil and power engineering (HOPE) students have the opportunity to truly immerse themselves in the world of power engineering - while earning money at the same time.

In addition to the lectures and labs that are part of the HOPE program (now process and power engineering[BROKEN LINK]) , students can also be hired as weekend operators at the Lloydminster campus and Energy Centre.

For Jake Paziuk, one of two students who has been employed since September, the opportunity to gain additional hands-on opportunities was too tempting to pass up.

“Working at the Energy Centre is going well,” Paziuk says. “I get first-hand experience on the job, putting what I've learned into practice. I get to troubleshoot, and if something goes wrong, I get to figure out what's causing the problem and fix it. It's pretty important to me because I'm more of a hands-on person and I learn better this way.”

The Energy Centre runs continuously and student operators are responsible for weekend operations, including water analysis on boiler waters, maintaining production rates and assisting with the steam generators.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Paziuk is grateful for the extra experience.

“With the pandemic, I feel pretty fortunate that I'm still able to have this hands-on work in the labs and in the Energy Centre on weekends,” he says. “This experience will be so good to put on my resume and it will help me stand out a little bit in the job search later.

“I'm really enjoying it. It's definitely making me even more interested in my future as a power engineer.”

Photo: Jake Paziuk working in the Energy Centre.