It only takes a few minutes with Mila to realize she’s someone who not only thinks outside the box, but has likely pulled out her supplies, cut up that box, and transformed its purpose. She’s the kind of kid who once built an igloo out of papermaché and cardboard, complete with lighting, decor, and a doorbell. Now at 17, being a ‘maker’ is just part of how Mila sees the world, and she’s looking forward to building a bright future at Western University this fall.

Mila joined Collingwood School in Grade 5 and immediately felt at home in the Junior School’s maker space, where tools, scrap wood, 3D printers, and other “doohickeys” were always at arms reach. With the school’s Rubik’s Cube Club, she and her classmates would complete dozens of Rubik’s Cubes in different ways to design impressive murals, under the guidance of her teacher Mr. McLean. In 2018, when Mila was in Grade 7, they designed a portrait of Sophie Gregoire Trudeau for International Women’s Day. Her University Guidance Counselor and past teacher, Ms. Rachel Pezim, remembers Mila solving math problems and puzzles with an insatiable curiosity.

“I could give her any kind of problem and she would work with the people around her to find a solution,” Ms. Pezim says.

Teamwork has been one of Mila’s strengths over the years and something Collingwood’s expansive co-curricular program has really fostered. Between racing on the Alpine team since Grade 8, competing in robotics, and being a founding member of the Dora Love Prize club, she’s surrounded herself with other collaborative and engaged peers. This was a big part of why Mila chose to pursue engineering at Western.

Mila decided to apply to all the best engineering schools in Canada and while waiting for offers would start to narrow down her list.

“I wasn’t sure yet what kind of engineering I wanted to do,” she says. During her research, she kept returning to the prospect of studying mechatronics, a kind of hybrid engineering specialty that combines mechanical, electrical, and software engineering. Western, Waterloo, Queens, and UBC are some of the Canadian schools that offer this program. Mila looked at each option and weighed the pros and cons.

“UBC was just too big for me and didn’t feel as inviting as Western. Meanwhile, Waterloo has a great program but I didn’t connect with the culture there.”

Ms. Pezim was able to support Mila through her expertise on the various schools and the unique experience each of them offers.

“Engineering at Waterloo is known to have a cut-throat, competitive, culture that is not right for every student,” Ms. Pezim says. “My personal perspective for students who want to go into engineering is to take a general first year in engineering and keep your eye on what specialties the school offers, how competitive they are, and if the school guarantees entry into a speciality, that’s a bonus. This path gives students the most options and flexibility to affirm their choice.”

When Mila visited Western, she found the people she met to be warm and welcoming, which very much appealed to her collaborative nature.

“The students and professors I met at Western were really excited to show me their projects. One professor walked me through three different iterations of a project his students had worked on and I could tell he would be very passionate about my learning and my success in the program,” Mila says.

At Collingwood, Mila was privileged to have a team of teachers, coaches, and administrators in her corner, who care about her success beyond just academics. Students at Collingwood have very customizable time tables–no two students grades 10-12 have the same schedule and because of this flexibility, she was able to take courses like AP Spanish and AP French, as well as art, and of course math and sciences, which forged connections across disciplines. But outside of Collingwood, Mila still experienced naysayers who doubted she could cut it in the STEM world, just because she’s a girl. One experience in particular reminded Mila there is still a long way to go to reach gender equality.

“One time at a robotics competition, our all-girl team was paired up with an all-male team from another school and they started insulting our robot and taking it apart, without even asking us first,” Mila recounts. “That made us pretty upset. Being a woman in STEM can sometimes make you feel like you’re just not good enough.”

Luckily, both her upbringing and the positive reinforcement she received at Collingwood has broken down barriers often faced by females interested in STEM. 

“I grew up creating stuff,” she says. “I’ve completed all the crafts from Art Attack, I’ve made DIY candles with cookie cutters, I used to make games in PowerPoint for my parents to play. I even renovated my toy kitchen as a kid. My parents were always supportive of this.”

Some of her courses have also inspired her to learn creative software like Blender and Adobe After Effects on her own. 

The skills she built at Collingwood will no doubt help Mila in the world of engineering at Western. Her curiosity, creativity, and can-do attitude will no doubt take her the rest of the way.