By Michael Veith

Gary Cai has left a profound impact upon Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada by changing it from the inside out. While many students seek summer jobs outside of their university, Gary (Class of 2009) stayed on to become his school’s Program Development Manager during the summer of 2012. The job, which involved changing the curriculum with a student’s perspective in mind, interested Cai because  “a lot of the things taught, were dry, boring, and not really useful in the real world.” The job also included tasks such as supervising lower year students and meeting with professors, deans and the ministry of education. “I really enjoyed it and it made a big difference. The best part of the job was being able to talk to them [the students] after the whole year, and what they thought about the new curriculum.”

Despite the higher pay of summer jobs at places such as Alberta’s oil sands, Gary chose not to work at the many field-specific jobs there, explaining, “If you know the industry, you realize that those big oil companies are the biggest causes of environmental damage to our world. I don’t want to work for them regardless of the salary.” With many of his classmates feeling the same way, Gary described Queen’s University as having taught him “not only the technical stuff but also ideologies and mindsets.” His technical learning and hard work paid off as he graduated Queen’s with a Chemical Engineering degree, specializing as a Biochemical/Medical Engineer.

This past summer, he left Kingston for Toronto, where he’s currently hoping to secure a chemical engineering job. “I want to find a good job, not just in terms of the salary, but also the job nature itself. I want to find a job that matches my lifelong passions and that makes it all the more difficult, but I think it will be worth it in the end.”

Photo: Gary Cai (in white jacket) on the campus of Queen’s University.