Arielle Ainabe

Electrical Engineer at Sinclair Interplanetary | 2019 Scholar

GETTING THE SCHOLARSHIP
“It was a regular school day and I was in chemistry class when I checked my email. I couldn’t believe it. It took awhile for it to register. As soon as class finished, I called my mom, I think she even cried- it was crazy!”

HOW IT STARTED

“When I was young, I went to school at the Toronto Islands. It was beautiful. We learned a lot about nature, life cycles, food, and animals. We spent a lot of time outdoors. To me, it was normal, but in hindsight, I learned so much about the world that way, it was a great experience.”

HOW IT'S GOING

“I’m working at Sinclair Interplanetary as an Engineering Intern. I get to work on developing and testing ground support equipment for flight hardware and making sure that it’s efficiently built. I learn a lot in this job. In the first week, I learned more than I ever have in other roles I’ve done!”

“I was involved in a lot of extracurriculars during school. A big one was the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF). We had a science and math teacher, Ms.Yu, she also did science fairs when she was young in India. She encouraged everyone in her classes to do it. I thought it was so cool because I had seen ISEF on TV. My first project was space related, I explored with my friends which planet is most habitable. After that fair, I was hooked because it was cool to get involved in areas of research outside of school and also having the freedom to choose my own topic.”

ARIELLE'S MAGIC

LEARN FROM OTHERS

At my job, it’s a small company, but it’s very diverse and there are so many smart people from different backgrounds and with different personalities. I love learning from each one of how they got to where they were, it’s very inspiring.

THAT ONE TEACHER

I am really thankful for Ms.Yu. Without her, I would have never done the Science Fairs or received any awards. She always encouraged me to keep going. I would go to her after school with questions, and she always gave me more interesting problems to work on. She was a big influence on me in pursuing STEM.

JUMP IN

Get involved in things that you’re passionate about. I was involved in a lot of things, but I didn’t decide what I wanted to do for University until the week before (I still don’t really know and that's okay!). Start with what you’re interested in, and try something new. Do your best. For me, it was the Science Fair and Cadets because I was always interested in learning new things.

THE BELIEVERS

I’ve had lots of different people believe in me, even when I haven’t always believed in myself. In Cadets, my ground school instructor, he saw my potential and encouraged me to move forward. He’s been there since I got my pilot’s license, and he was always there when I had questions. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and who are from many aspects of life.

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