28 Aug Norscan Co-Op Students Wrap Up Their Summer Projects
Above, left to right: Lauren Glen, Eric Karr, and Madeline Lavergne.
Summer is coming to a close here at Norscan, and as the staff prepare for fall, the summer co-op students who joined the Norscan team in May are preparing to head back to school. Norscan has a long history of developing, and often hiring young talent through the Engineering, Computer Science and Business co-op programs at Red River College and the University of Manitoba. This summer we hired three students: Eric Karr, Madeline Lavergne and Lauren Glen. As they wrap up their projects and we prepare to say goodbye, we caught up with the students to discuss the projects they have been working on.
Eric Karr, a Computer Engineering student from the University of Manitoba joined us in Hardware engineering. He developed the hardware and software for new Automated Testing Equipment (ATE) over the summer. The test fixture is nearly done and will save coworkers time, making manual testing a thing of the past. Eric highlights the technical knowledge he gained from working with Norscan. “Everyone was very friendly and always willing to answer my questions” he said of his supervisors. “My technical skills have drastically improved, and I’ve been able to apply theoretical knowledge into real world”.
Madeline Lavergne also joined Norscan this summer as a Software Development Co-op Student. Madeline majored in Computer Science at the University of Manitoba. She has been designing a customer support portal that allows staff to better service and monitor products. Madeline had the opportunity to design using Ruby on Rails “it is a language I’ve never used before, and the more languages I can learn the better” she said of the experience. “(this) project has been the biggest independent project (I’ve done), getting free rein on pace, and priority of features”.
On the business side, we had Lauren Glen join us from the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba. Lauren majors in Human Resources and worked on several HR projects over the summer. “The focus was on updating our forms and procedures for the management team” says Lauren. The biggest take away from the term for her was experiencing HR in a dynamic environment. “Norscan has allowed me to build on and apply what I’ve learned at school, but what’s even more important is that I’ve done it in a setting that supportive yet challenging”.
Here at Norscan, we strive to make these co-op experiences as enriching as possible, for the students, our staff and the company itself. By hiring students we hope to enhance each student’s skills through experience. “It has changed the way I look at my studies” says Lauren.
We wish all of our students success in the upcoming year!