Youth on Board the Sustainable Blue Economy: Jessica Benoit

Jessica Benoit is a mechanical engineering student at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador who recently completed a co-operative work term at Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services.

A Mi’kmaw student from Qalipu First Nation on the west coast of Newfoundland, the ocean is her backyard.

“I drove by the ocean every day going to school,” she said. “But none of my family members fish or anything like that, so I don’t really have any background knowledge on boats.”

She applied to the operations engineering student role at Miawpukek Horizon because she wants to try more hands-on work.

“I figured maybe ocean & naval would be something I would enjoy, being out on the ships as a job,” she said. “But I’m still playing it by ear, just seeing what I like.”

So far, Jessica has had to learn marine terminologies and understand how to apply what she studied to the job.

After spending the first few weeks of her work term working from home, Jessica is currently spending some time shadowing and apprenticing crew during the reactivation of the Polar Prince. The icebreaker, owned by Miawpukek Horizon, has been contracted by the SOI Foundation for research and educational programming.

Jessica is among youth across Canada whose co-op is supported by funding from the Blue Futures Pathways program.

She says it’s great to have an opportunity to learn about the various career options in the marine sector.

“There are so many different opportunities and jobs in the marine industry,” she said. “I think if people had more knowledge about the marine industry, they would understand that you don’t have to go to university and get a big degree or know anything about the marine industry. You could just start with something that you might like and then go from there.”