First year Engineering student Levon Joslin sees an opportunity to make a difference.
“I want to help others and to protect the environment,’ says the Lax’Kwalaams First Nation member who grew up in Edmonton.
With an older cousin in engineering, Joslin was drawn to the field due to his gift for mathematics.
“I’ve always had what I’d call the math brain, and from the age of three I have wanted to be an engineer.”
It was also the practicality of engineering that interested Joslin. “Apart from my connection to engineering, when I was thinking of post-secondary, I was interested in an education that would prepare me for a job upon graduation.”
From his perspective, there is a necessity to get more Aboriginal students into engineering in order to end a negative cycle which has impacted communities since residential schools.
“In order to make things better, we need to gain skills and knowledge in disciplines such as engineering,” he added.
Joslin sees opportunity for Aboriginal engineers to contribute to improving the living conditions in reserves across the country.
