Schulich grad shares his journey to inspire others to follow their dreams

Chase Sanregret hopes his story will inspire future engineering students to follow their passions.

A recent graduate of the Schulich School of Engineering, with a Bachelor’s Degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in aerospace, he is looking to turn a childhood of loving rockets and aircraft into his career.

Sanregret, BSc (Eng)’24, says he hopes prospective students will give engineering a chance if they enjoy math and science like he does.

“My advice would be to always remember what you love learning about and continue to pursue those things that you have a passion for,” he says. “It’s a career path I feel is very rewarding and it’s a pursuit that I think really teaches people how to learn, which is maybe the most valuable skill I have gained during my time at the University of Calgary.”

A Calgarian of Métis ancestry, Sanregret has become an advocate for the Indigenous Pathways Program, which he believes will benefit students looking to take the next step in their educational journeys.

The Schulich program is aimed at providing students with the resources and supports for academic and personal success. With a variety of benefits available, the program also fosters an Indigenous-centred community.

Close to home

Sanregret says he remembers getting many LEGO sets for Christmas, as he always loved working with his hands. He achieved excellent grades in math and science classes. It was his mother who first suggested a career in engineering.

“It was so crazy to me that we can formulate, calculate and quantify pretty much everything we can observe in the natural world,” Sanregret says. “I found it interesting that so many of our most important developments are owed to science and mathematics.”

Through high school, he started taking an interest in finding solutions to real-world problems, particularly when it came to analyzing complex systems.

Wanting to stay close to home where he could also enjoy the mountains for skiing and hiking, Sanregret enrolled at UCalgary with some of his closest friends.

Opportunities aplenty

Looking back on his time at Schulich, Sanregret says it was everything he could have asked for.

From designing a remote-control plane to working on an unmanned aerial vehicle for his capstone project, he says he valued being able to turn his in-class learning into hands-on opportunities.

“I think everything we learned about was always interesting and new,” Sanregret says. “The time you get with friends going through a shared experience is really valuable as well and you get to meet a lot of great people.”

He was also able to secure an internship at Think Solutions Engineering, which helped him build his personal and professional connections.

A space of belonging

The Indigenous Pathways Program was launched by Schulich in 2022 to do exactly what the name suggests: open avenues of success.

“It’s more than just inviting Indigenous students to join engineering,” says Deanna Burgart, associate dean, Indigenous inclusivity and reconciliation. “It’s creating a space of belonging, as it’s important for Indigenous students see themselves reflected in the spaces, our curriculum and how we are doing things going forward.”

While the program – which has been named “those who build things” in several Indigenous languages – came into existence after he started his studies, Sanregret says he would have benefited from it, and he hopes others will consider it in the future.

“You get to experience a lot and understand more about our world,” he says. “You get a chance to contribute and understand how to do so responsibly for the benefit of those around you.”