JONATHAN WOO, 17
Studying engineering science at U of T
HOMETOWN: Markham
WHERE HE IS NOW: A condo in downtown Toronto
By the time I got into my senior year at St. Augustine Catholic High School in Markham, I knew I wanted to go to into medicine or engineering. My first choice, MIT, was too expensive, so I chose U of T. This summer, U of T ran an engineering program online to help students who’d missed out on months of learning because of Covid, so I took that, which really helped with the basics.
In the meantime, I had to figure out my living situation. I’d been looking forward to living on campus to immerse myself in university life, but that didn’t seem feasible during Covid. My parents had bought a pre-construction condo near Bathurst and Lake Shore as an investment. Even though the building was still incomplete, our unit had recently been finished. So I figured, What if I lived there? At least I’d still get a taste of independence.
In late August, a few days before the semester started, I moved in. I’ve never lived alone before, but it’s gone pretty smoothly. To save money, I’ve been cooking for myself. There’s a Loblaws nearby, so I can pop in and get whatever I’m craving that day. I can make pasta and pancakes and even some fancy sautéed dishes. I see my family most weekends and spend the rest of the time studying at home or exploring the city on my bike. Even though my classes this semester are all virtual, I still like to bike to the St. George campus and soak in the atmosphere. In the middle of the bustling city and high-rises, it’s a serene oasis with lots of green space. I love it.
Meeting people has been difficult, but not impossible. My program held an orientation scavenger hunt this summer, and it was incredible. I got to meet my classmates faceto-face—all of us in masks, of course—at Roy Thomson Hall before we looked for clues and did a bunch of fun activities all around the city. U of T engineering is known for its wild frosh week, so I was disappointed to miss out on that experience. Instead, we had a mostly virtual frosh week closer to the start of the semester. It wasn’t the same, but I got to meet people at the in-person orientations. We stay in touch in group chats through Discord, but we haven’t spent much time in person. We have the next four years to make up what we lost during Covid.
The main challenge has been my new virtual university routine. I’ve got six courses this semester, and each professor has their own teaching style and uses different learning platforms, like Quercus, Canvas, Zoom and Piazza. It’s hard to manage because the material isn’t centralized: for one assignment, we might get the bulk of the information on one platform and updates on another. That means we have to check in on all of them constantly, which gets tiresome.
I like to stay busy, so I’ve also applied to some school engineering design clubs, and I’m really looking forward to working on team projects. My goal next summer is to get an internship at a software company. But until then, I’m just taking everything in, one week at a time.