The third grade students are passing the halfway point of their time in Tecnun

On Friday, February 17, the third-year students passed the halfway point of their time in Tecnun. The workshop kicked off with a Mass at St. Sebastian Martyr Parish. At 12 o'clock the students took their seats at auditorium of the Miramar Palace to receive their scholarship and listen to the testimony of three alumni of the School. In the roundtable, moderated by Professor Iñigo Gutiérrez, participated Fernando Odriozola, co-founder of WaveGarden; Ana Arrizabalaga, Global Sales Manager-Marine and Marketing Manager at JAURE (Regal Beloit Spain S.A); and Pablo Álvarez, researcher of the Electric Vehicle Group of Ceit.

Fernando Odriozola encouraged the students to let themselves be "surprised by life" so that tomorrow they would not have to ask themselves the question of the business projects they would have liked to take on but had not carried out. In this sense, he advised the students to seek their first work experience abroad, "although staying here is also a good option," he said. "Follow your heart and your head, and never set limits for yourselves," he encouraged the students, who broke into applause. Fernando assured that one also learns a lot from projects that don't turn out as expected: "You can't even imagine what you learn from failures, so don't be afraid of entrepreneurship".

For her part, Ana Arrizabalaga, who did not want to miss the roundtable despite having her voice taken, for which Iñigo Gutiérrez thanked her publicly, urged the students to have a global vision of their work: "You are not going to work only with people from your company, but also with colleagues from other plants and other countries around the world. So be open-minded to work in a team and develop the ability to relate to people." Ana insisted that they be willing to move internationally and, to this end, the importance of knowing English.

Finally, Pablo Álvarez told them about his experience as PhD student at Ceit: "There are many different groups and you can continue learning while doing your thesis," he said. In his case, he was attracted by the fact that when he finished his engineering studies he was proposed to design an electric motor that will be implemented tomorrow in an airplane, and he did not think twice about it. "I gave a lot of value to that and I don't regret the decision I made, so don't close the doors to the possibility of continuing your education through a thesis," he said.

The roundtable was also open to questions from the students and one of them asked if what you learn during your studies is useful when you get to work, to which the three speakers replied: "Without a doubt. Sometimes it may seem that what you study is not very useful, but nothing could be further from the truth. Over time, you realize that what you learn during your studies can be applied later on in your working life".

At the end, the scholarships were awarded to the 3rd grade students and the student Isabel Benito also said a few words of thanks on behalf of all her classmates, which were applauded and accompanied by some laughter. After the photo of the Promotion, the students continued the workshop with a meal at the Ondarreta Tennis Restaurant.