Patrick Landry (PL) has just started his third year of Mechanical Engineering at l'Université de Moncton. In August, he wrapped up his summer co-op in the Build Your Careers program at Kent Homes in Bouctouche, NB, just 30 minutes from his home town of Saint-Ignace. Before completing his co-op, Patrick agreed to sit down with us to answer a few questions about the Build Your Career program, and his experience at Kent Homes.

What did you enjoy most about your summer with Kent Homes?
(PL) I enjoyed getting the chance to work with a group of amazing people here at Kent Homes!

Co-ops are a great way to gain experience, what skills did you learn that you can apply throughout your education or career while at your co-op at Kent Homes?
Getting a lot of on hand experience and understanding how the front line workers feel will really help me all throughout my career. I’m really glad I got the chance to experience the industrial aspect of a production line such as the one we have here at Kent Homes and get a feel for the other Irving companies as well. 

Were you involved in any major projects this summer?
I can’t really say that I’ve worked on only one project this summer, it was more of a mixture of daily tasks to keep the production line going and working on inventory fixes to improve our accuracy. So less of a project and more of a continuous process improvement I would say.

Being in Bouctouche on your co-op, did you get a chance to learn about any of JDI's other businesses?
Going to Saint John for the student tour really opened my eyes to how much JDI is self sufficient within its various companies and how amazing of a system it is. I’m really glad that I got the chance to be a part of this amazing company.

What would you tell your fellow students about opportunities at Kent homes?
I would say that if they get the opportunity to come to Kent Homes to absolutely go for it and not hesitate at all!

Interested in becoming a Build Your Career student? Check out our opportunities at students.jdirving.com/