Name: Sebastian Olano
Year: 4th Year
Competition Attended: Western Engineering Competition 2026
Briefly introduce what competition you attended.
The Western Engineering Competition (WEC) is the proceeding competition for the winners of the SFU Engineering Competition. This year, WEC was hosted at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. After winning the Consulting Category with my team, we were invited to attend WEC to represent SFU Surrey where we participated in the same category – only this time, we were competing against the winning teams from other post-secondary schools in Western Canada. Stakes are high at WEC, where the Top 3 teams in each category receive an award, with the Top 2 teams advancing to the Canadian Engineering Competition. Although WEC can be busy, WEC not only consists of the engineering competition, but serves as an opportunity to attend a career fair, network with judges, and socialize with students from other schools in Western Canada.
What were some big takeaways?
Some big takeaways were that engineering solutions aren’t found immediately. Once given our case, my team sat with it for about a half hour interpreting what it even meant. This allocated time allowed us to sit in with our proposed solution and validate it’s legitimacy. As well, I learned that there are different approaches for one engineering solution. While it is vital to mention the benefits of our solution, for feasibility and safety reasons, it’s also important to mention the risks associated with your proposal.
What was the biggest lesson?
My biggest lesson learnt was that teamwork drives the best kind of engineering solutions. For the consulting category, the case that we were given was to repurpose orphan oil wells in a profitable and sustainable format for the Government of Alberta. This problem seemed daunting and difficult to even comprehend when reading it alone. However, once our team began to collaborate and bounce off each other’s ideas, it reminded me that getting insight and advice from other people is not just something extra to consider when creating a solution, it’s necessary. This cohesiveness and strategy that our team shared led us to suggest repurposing these orphan oil wells into closed-loop geothermal power plants, creating a strong report and great presentation.
What have you learnt?
The consulting category includes a written report and presentation under a time constraint, so I re-affirmed myself how important time management was and staying calm under pressure. As well, solutions and projects should be creative and innovative, reminding me that I should step outside of my comfort zone to investigate different solutions. I also learned that engineering students across Western Canada are so like-minded and can really prove to be close friends despite competing against each other.
What do you want future students to know?
– If you do end up advancing to WEC, congratulations! Whether or not you place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at WEC, winning the SFU Engineering Competition is a huge feat so you should be very proud of yourself and take the opportunity at WEC to make SEE proud, let loose, and have lots of fun.
– Read the rulebook before you attend! This can specify how your category will be organized and what you may need to potentially submit.
– Go beyond the rubric given to you for your category! A difference that I found between the rubrics at WEC and at the SFU Engineering Competition was that the rubric at SFU was more specific, meanwhile the WEC rubric was more broad. For example, for our required consulting report, the financial analysis rubric at SFU told us to identify capital costs, O&M costs, total costs, and a payback period for a certain number of years; meanwhile at WEC, we were simply told to create a financial analysis. Little did we know that at WEC, despite not including a specified payback period in our report after thinking
it wasn’t necessary, we would be asked what that was during the Q&A portion of our presentation. This applies for everything in your rubric – if you are given a general rubric for your submission, what do you think you should include to create the best result?
– Take advantage of the social events to make some new friends! You may be up against these students in your category, but it’s pretty awesome to make some friends across Western Canada.