PROFILE
“I’ve been lucky to work on most continents except Antarctica,” says Ms. Slezak. “I've had great experiences, everywhere I’ve been. From the people I ballroom danced with every morning in China, to birthday parties in Siberia, to Malagasy celebrations in Madagascar and looking at very strange and wonderful wild flowers in bloom in Western Australia.” At one of her first jobs, with a company called Hardy Engineering, she first learned about APEGA. Her boss, Robert Hardy, P.Eng., was a former APEGA President. Mr. Hardy, now deceased, encouraged her to apply for her P.Geol. designation and consider volunteering for the regulator. She first signed up to volunteer after returning from a two- year oil and gas project in North Africa. “I asked for something short term because I was bouncing in and out of the country,” she says. “I ended up on the Act, Regulations, and Bylaws Committee. I thought it would be good to have someone on the committee who could speak to being a geologist and how the experience is different from being an engineer.” Ms. Slezak also spent a few years helping develop standards for the mandatory APEGA Continuing Professional Development program. That was more than 20 years ago. Today, Ms. Slezak remains active as a volunteer speaker at APEGA Member Induction Ceremonies, which are special events for new APEGA Members to take their professional oaths among their peers. “Some of them have come from halfway around the world and have struggled to get professional credentials here, so this is a celebration,” she says. “They are really happy to have achieved that milestone and to celebrate it with their families.” Ms. Slezak has enjoyed giving back to the professions over the years — but there’s more to it than that. “Volunteering with APEGA broadens you; that’s how I see it. It makes you bigger than yourself,” she explains. “Meeting other Members of the APEGA family is a great way to learn things you wouldn’t learn in your office. That breadth of knowledge you gain and the people you meet help you in your career.” Outside APEGA, Ms. Slezak has taken part in Earth Ring ceremonies for new geoscience graduates, and she mentors young professionals in other ways, too. “My recent volunteer work with the CSPG Student Industry Field Trip resulted in some energizing insights on the new generation of Canadian geologists,” she says. The students she talked to are worried about current job prospects, but after making it through the early ’80s, she has some good advice. “Rough times challenge you to be even better, to take more opportunities, to take what you can get — and that builds a great resume,” she says. “As long as you stay flexible, keep learning, and are open to opportunities and meeting people, then the odds are really good that you’ll find something even more interesting than what you pictured.”
GETTING TO KNOW YOU What do you do to relax? My husband, Jack Wendte, and I retired about two years ago. We’re having fun doing the stuff that didn’t quite fit in when we were full steam ahead in the working world. I like to garden, hike, dance, read, and cook. We also enjoy travelling — we’re both Professional Geologists, so we like to grab a guidebook and find the outcrops wherever we go. What quality do you value most in a person? Truthfulness. What’s a toy you played with growing up? My parents raised me as a reader. They made sure I read the classics — Dickens, Bronte, authors like that. I read a lot of science fiction and adventure books for girls like Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. Oh, and geology books. What’s the best advice you ever received? My parents and my great grandmother, who helped raise me, always told me to believe in myself and keep on trying. What’s your favourite movie? Any Star Trek, Star Wars, or Indiana Jones movie. What’s your favourite lunch spot? I have favourite Mexican, Indian, Thai, and sushi restaurants. It depends on my mood and who I’m with. What’s your ideal vacation spot? Any place where I’m learning new things and meeting new people. What’s something people would be surprised to learn about you? I used to be in a ballroom dance club. When I worked in China, it surprised everybody when I disappeared in the morning to go ballroom dancing with the locals. What’s the background photo on your smartphone? None — because I don’t have a smartphone. But my laptop has a rotating display of my scenery, flower, storm, and geology pictures. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I’m hoping that I’m still active, that I can still travel and do the things I love. I’d like to continue being active as a volunteer and meeting new people. What’s the last book you read for fun? I always have four or five books on the go. Right now that includes The Year Round Veggie Gardener by Niki Jabbour and The Wisdom of Chinese Cooking by Grace Young. And I just finished up an Outlander novel by Diana Gabaldon. Who was your biggest influence growing up? My parents, Patricia and Steve Slezak, and my great grandmother Alta Eaman. If you could meet someone living or dead, who would it be? Gran and my parents, just to say thank you.
64 | PEG SUMMER 2016
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