Inside King's-Edgehill School
It can be confusing to leave King’s-Edgehill School and enter the next academic stage with so many varied options and choices. Often there are appropriate years of trial and error and figuring out the road to a profession or vocation that suits one’s desires, lifestyle, and passions. For Liam Hogan (Class of 2017), it has been very straightforward and rewarding. He is feeling great about his academic choice to pursue Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Brunswick. “They load on an insane amount of work initially, and sometimes you are overwhelmed, but I highly recommend the career path,” he says. “But, you have to be willing to put in the work!” he adds with a note of caution.
Liam feels he is on the “ultimate career path” for himself. “Every class is like a puzzle to solve, that’s what I love.” Soon Liam will be paid, on a daily basis, to solve engineering puzzles as he is in his final year and within reach of being presented his coveted “iron ring,” given to all graduating engineering students.
Although he is considering pursuing his master’s degree in Germany, Liam is already involved with large budget projects. I was speaking with Liam recently and learned he was working on a 5-megawatt solar farm at 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, near Fredericton. Liam, along with three classmates, is working on a project called Smart Grid Digital Twin. They have created the existing Gagetown network in software which will allow engineers to analyze the model and see how the solar farm will affect the Base before the array is built.
Liam mentioned that he became interested in engineering while at KES, and he would really like to arrange a seminar with students to let them know what this career has to offer. We were discussing this along with our shared interest in renewable energy. I was delighted that Liam remembered my stories of living “grid-free” and the ease and viability of solar applications. In fact, Liam shared some ideas for my next project which will be a solar powered deep freezer! It’s a rewarding experience when the student starts teaching the teacher.
