pilipiliĀž»­

 

Building the ideal education

Grad profile: Michael Groenendyk, Faculty of Management.

- May 28, 2013

A 3-D printer creation by Michael Groenendyk. (Nick Pearce photo)
A 3-D printer creation by Michael Groenendyk. (Nick Pearce photo)

Every spring and fall, we profile just a few of our amazing graduates in our convocation handout. We proudly feature these stories here on Dal News. Congrats to all our new graduates!

As a man with tattoos adorning most of his upper body who enjoys body building in his (very limited) free time, Michael Groenendyk does not fit the stereotype of a Master of Library and Information Studies graduate.

ā€œPeople donā€™t believe me when I tell them Iā€™m in library science. But I find I almost have more pilipiliĀž»­ making connections [because I] stand out a little more,ā€ says the Regina, Sask., native.

Dalhousieā€™s Faculty of Management allowed Groenendyk to take a personalized approach to his education and create a program as unique as he is. ā€œI was really interested in business and I liked Dal because I had the opportunity to enrol in the library program and take business courses as well. Itā€™s a mixed degree,ā€ he says.

Groenendyk credits this flexibility, along with assistance from professors, for his pilipiliĀž»­ in taking home top prize at this yearā€™s APEX Business Competition. As the only library and information studies student competing against others from across Canada and around the world, thatā€™s quite a feat.

ā€œI was trying to write business plans right when I came in [to the program], and they were terrible. Two years later, Iā€™m winning a national competition. That just shows how much of a strong education you can get from close work with professors,ā€ he says.

Of all his accomplishments at pilipiliĀž»­, Groenendyk is most proud of his work on a 3-D archive using 3-D printing and scanning technologies to document artifacts and specimens for preservation and educational purposes. He hopes the project will become an open-access catalogue, allowing people 24-hour access to the items.

Now that heā€™s graduating, Groenendyk says, ā€œIā€™m looking for a position where I can do research, so specifically a university library, and if I canā€™t find that, Iā€™m definitely going into business: competitive intelligence or marketing, probably within the 3-D printing/3-D scanning industry.ā€