“There’s no way this is real.”
That was the reaction from Shail Giroux, a Grade 12 International Baccalaureate student at Korah Collegiate, when he found out he got accepted into Berkeley’s mechanical engineering program at the University of California.
Even with confetti spewed across his online acceptance letter, Giroux still couldn’t believe it.
“Are you celebrating me getting rejected?” he joked.
Berkeley prides itself on being the third best engineering school in the United States and the fifth best in the world.
199 students are accepted into the program’s freshman year. The admission rate for international students is just 6.1 per cent, with only a small handful of Canadians receiving an acceptance letter.
Giroux was one of them.
“I knew it felt right as soon as I got in,” he says. “It’s an incredible school that never ceases to amaze me the more I read about it.”
Giroux’s enthusiasm for engineering was clear from his childhood. From playing with Legos in his early years, to competing in his first robotics competition in the fourth grade, and eventually vying for science fair awards on a national level, it’s safe to say Giroux has a love for this field.
“I think I’ve been involved in some sort of engineering and STEM since grade two,” he says. “It’s always been a passion of mine. I’ve always enjoyed building.”
Giroux has an outstanding resume of experience and achievements that paved the way for him to get into his dream school.
He received a gold medal at the Canada-wide science fair for a robotics-based project where he developed a system that helps workers with storage and accessibility on farms to reduce labour and costs.
This project sparked Giroux’s love for business as well, and he plans to apply to an upper-division program with integrated business.
“I really do have a passion for both business and engineering,” he says. “My most unique set of skills is combining agriculture, business, and engineering. It turned into something I loved after further developing my initial science fair project.”
During the pandemic, Giroux had the opportunity to travel west and start business work with farms. He used drone analytics and machine learning to analyze crop fields and help predict when they would be ready to harvest.
“I had so much time on my hands,” Giroux said. “Working on the farms out in Saskatchewan, whether it was manual labour or working on my business, it would not have happened without COVID. I thought COVID would be detrimental, but it led me to pursuing a passion in business as well.”
The 17-year-old now has his eyes set on knocking Berkeley’s undergrad degree out of the park, but he doesn’t plan to stop there.
“I want to eventually do my master’s in engineering,” he says. “Berkeley offers a fifth-year master’s in sciences and engineering which I would do before I potentially go to law school.”
Berkeley is one of the only schools to offer a one-year master’s program. Students get to work on their thesis and oral presentations during year four, cutting the time it takes to earn a master’s degree by half.
Long-term wise, Giroux says he wants to get his MBA or go to law school after he finishes his undergrad and masters.
Giroux is beyond grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity to expand his wealth of knowledge and study his true passion. But he notes it never would have been possible without the support and encouragement from his loved ones.
“I have a lot of support from my family and friends,” he says. Especially from my parents, who have taught me the motivation and work ethic I need to achieve the things I want, and how much I need to work and push myself beyond what I think is possible. I’m extremely grateful for that.”
26 exams in four weeks now stand between Giroux and his completion of the IB Programme at Korah. His university courses will begin on July 5th or August 13th, depending on some classes he’s considering taking over the summer to get ahead.
Giroux’s many years of challenging work and dedication to the engineering craft has led him to this point, and it’s safe to say he’s ready to take the next step:
“No matter what the setbacks might be or how the path may change, if I keep working hard, I’ll eventually get to where I want to be.”