MyLife at BCIT with Alice Zhang

Alice Zhang

MyLife at BCIT is a forum for current students to share their experience, education and opportunities presented in their chosen program.  We are pleased to report that Airport Operations student Alice Zhang, who is in term 4 of the program will be sharing her perspective through MyLife over the next few months.  

Following is a re-print of Alice's first entry:

Here’s to the Beginning of the End of the Beginning

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Alice Zhang

Welcome! My name is Alice and I’m enrolled in BCIT’s Airport Operations program down at the Aerospace Technology Campus (ATC) in Richmond, BC. I graduated high-school in 2011 and jumped straight into BCIT that September. One year has passed since I began my four-term program, and graduation is scheduled for February 2013. I hope to provide better understanding about the high school-BCIT transition, the graduation and job hunt journey and, of course, the hecticness that is my program.

For those of you who are not extremely aware of BCIT’s aerospace programs, all of them are located at ATC, right across Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on Sea Island. The campus proudly houses a beautiful hangar and one of the top aviation libraries in North America. I will introduce the campus in an upcoming post.

ATC CAmpus

So, what is airport operations? “Do you fly planes?”, “Do you fix planes?”, “Are you training to be a flight attendant?” and “Are you going to be in the air traffic control tower?” are the most popular guesses, and every person in my class has come to develop a personalized explanation. Simply put, we learn how to develop, manage and operate the airport itself, from designing baggage systems to finding new air service routes to organizing retail opportunities (there are four Timmys in YVR, ‘dyou know that?). All the while adhering to regulations set by government agencies and the big dog, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). All the while trying to make enough money to sustain and improve.

Airport operations, from what I’ve experienced so far, is wonderfully exciting and rewarding, just like most other branches of the aviation industry. After all, humans are not born to fly, and that just makes us more defiantly curious about the sky, no?
In my spare time, I like to sing, play guitar, cook and reblog pretty pictures on tumblr. I have recently started working at YVR as a passenger service agent for an airline, so that spare time is slowly disappearing. But it’s all good, ’cause one of the first courses in our program was about personal and time management, and I’m supposed to have applied those principles. No big deal :)

Please feel free to ask me anything about school, work, aviation and life! I believe applications for next year’s intake start soon, so if you have questions regarding the application process, the trades exams or the interview, I’ll be glad to answer them.

Note:  to follow Alice's further term 4 adventures, check out MyLife.