51社区黑料

51社区黑料 (SFU) kinesiology student Daniel Mao never imagined how far his studies would take him.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not every day that a student gets an opportunity to go to Germany,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut there are opportunities like that out there for students.鈥�

Mao was drawn to the mix of academics, applied course work offered at 51社区黑料Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology as well as opportunities to develop practical skills. 鈥淚'm a very hands-on person,鈥� he says, 鈥渟o I enjoyed courses like anatomy, where we were doing rapid dissections. Sounds kind of gross, but it was very intriguing to me to learn about human anatomy from something like a rabbit carcass.鈥�

鈥淢y favorite course was BPK 241, the injury rehab course where we learned how to perform first aid for common athletic injuries and taping for athletes that are coming back into the sport after an injury.鈥�

At BPK he found a friendly and supportive community of instructors and teaching assistants that he credits for helping him get through his degree.

鈥淭here are some great professors such as Diana Bedoya, Carmen Bott and Kevin Lunnie who love what they do and have experience outside of the academic setting. Some of them run their own clinics and businesses and it鈥檚 very insightful to speak to someone who can help you with your coursework but also tell you about what鈥檚 happening outside of school.鈥�

Mao had been looking for his next co-op placement for a while when an opportunity at Adidas seemed to pop up from out of nowhere. He applied and was hired to work at the company鈥檚 headquarters in Bavaria.

鈥淭hat was my first time in Germany and honestly, a bit of a culture shock,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚 didn't speak German, and luckily at work we spoke English.鈥�

At Adidas he worked on the product development team, taking ideas and 2D art from the product design team and turning them into products you would see on shelves, from material selection, pattern and sample creation to fit testing.

Working in a large, international company required a lot of collaboration. 鈥淥ne of the biggest skills that I developed as a product developer was communication, because it's impossible for the product development team to create a product on their own,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t takes a lot of cross-functional work. I worked very closely with the product design team, the product marketing team, with the materials team, innovations team, fit testing team.鈥�

鈥淚n a company like Adidas the people are highly organized, and my manager, he was a very good leader. He didn't just tell people what to do, but he also helped the people that he was managing to become better at their jobs.鈥�

The region near Adidas headquarters was peaceful and quiet with many well-preserved old buildings. 鈥淥ne of the things I liked the most was spending a day just walking around a town to take in the sights.鈥� Near the end of his work term his mom and girlfriend visited and the three were able travel around Europe together.

Since completing his degree requirements Mao has landed a role with Arc鈥檛eryx on their repair and warranty team.

鈥淚 would highly, highly recommend doing co-op, regardless of where you get placed,鈥� Mao says. 鈥淚 think it's just so valuable that as a student you can get these opportunities to see what the real world looks like, get some experience in the field that you study in, and also you make a little bit of money at the meantime.鈥�

鈥淚'm not even close to being a perfect student,鈥� he says. 鈥淲ith my grades I didn't think I had a chance to get into all these co-ops. But I learned that it's not just about grades. It's also about the kind of person you are, so just don't be afraid to be out there, put your name in the hat and always try to do your best and better.鈥�