My name is Madeleine Godin, and I’m a second year Environment & Resource Studies student at the University of Waterloo. I had the opportunity to complete my first co-op term here at Watters Environmental as an Administrative Assistant.
I didn’t exactly know what to expect when arriving at Watters; my only experience in an office was for Bring Your Kid to work day in the 9th grade. During my first week I quickly learned that Watters Environmental was a bit different than the usual stereotypical office environment. For one, my professional development course did not prepare me for their first question, “What’s your favourite reality TV show?”
Everyone was incredibly helpful from the moment I started working here. Although I wasn’t too far from the office, my coworkers always offered to give me a ride to and from work or to the subway station at the end of the week. They were always open to sharing advice, whether related to work or to life.
There was almost always something that was going on during the week. Whether it was voting on who was going to marry The Bachelor, a Wii Bowling competition spanning two and a half months, or rescuing a rogue raccoon in the parking lot, they always knew how to keep things lively. You knew it would be a good day if someone came in with a big brown paper bag filled with fresh bagels.
Even though I was in the office I felt like I got to know the towns and cities in Ontario and across Canada, through all the historical research, aerial photographs, and other support tasks I was provided with.
Working at Watters Environmental also gave me the opportunity to join the WWF Living Planet at Work team, where I got to listen in on meetings and contribute ideas on how we could make the company more sustainable. We organized multiple events around the office, as well as fundraising for the WWF CN Tower Stair Climb, which I am proud to say I crossed off my bucket list.
I attended Town Hall meetings and Lunch ‘n Learn sessions, allowing me to understand what everyone in the office was responsible for. This transparency gave me an appreciation of how I was able to contribute during my time here.
It’s difficult to sum up everything I experienced into so few words; working at Watters Environmental Group for my first co-op job was a great experience, and I feel I have learned so much over those four short months thanks to the amazing team there. It’s typical for students going into their first co-op term to think that they won’t get a job related to their field. Instead I was pretty lucky and got the opportunity to see how an environmental consulting company runs and what it could be like to work in this industry.
