Meet Basia Wronski, Process Engineer
Basia is an EWB Volunteer, Corporate Representative and Process Engineer in Surface Facilities Development at Origin. EWB Australia relies on the work of over 1200 members who actively volunteer their time to EWB, as part of the International Volunteer Day, we celebrate them and all our other volunteers.
“I joined EWB when I was studying chemical engineering at The University of Queensland (UQ). It broadened my perspective on what I could do with my engineering skills. As a student, the world is your oyster with EWB because there are so many different things you can do within the organisation including personal development and humanitarian engineering opportunities. During my time at UQ, I went to EWB’s National Council and we came up with an idea to link university students with professionals. We decided to have a careers event for the SEQ chapter and I ran it the first year. That was many years ago now, but it’s been running ever since. My employer, Origin, partners with EWB through our philanthropic arm Origin Foundation. When I started at Origin, I got the opportunity to work as the EWB corporate representative. Three years ago we had a lot of interest, but no initiatives. Now we have a High School Outreach (HSO) program and also mark reports for first-year university students who do the EWB Challenge. The HSO program is very popular; I get people coming up to me and asking to get involved. Everyone has their own story about why they decided to do a degree in engineering and what interested them and it’s usually a teacher or a group of people who came and spoke to students about engineering. It’s a small act that takes up a day or half a day, but it really makes a difference to somebody’s life. I think that encompasses all of EWB’s initiatives. For an engineer, thinking about how to solve a problem and using your technical knowledge is something you might do every day, and it’s really good to be able to pass on that insight and inspire someone to consider a career in engineering. EWB helps engineers to see outside the box and shows them they can be innovative, work in communities and use their knowledge to make the world a better place. It’s a great organisation and a wonderful avenue for engineers to use their skills in the community. I also like the culture. Being part of an organisation with all these passionate, bright people who are all working to the same cause is pretty inspiring.”