A former Humboldt resident and HCI student put his creativity and ingenuity to work and in turn,  was just awarded an internship with a big automotive company following his post-secondary education. 

Avery Lukan, who is in his fourth year at Humber College in Toronto, took part in a Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) design and innovation competition and took home "Best Project." He was awarded a four-month internship at Laurent Beaudoin Design and Innovation Center in Valcourt, Quebec with BRP

"I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to work with BRP, which was really exciting, they're an awesome and innovative company. They hosted a competition in our school with our industrial design automotive class. It was throughout the whole first semester of my fourth year here, we just wrapped it up and I ended up winning it. Now I get to go intern at their design and innovation center in Valcourt, Quebec after I'm done school," said Lukan.

The competition put the student's knowledge, creativity, and innovation learned throughout the four-year course to the test.

"The competition was basically encompassing all the things we've learned in the four years with the program. They were looking for a project that would test our creativity and our ability to present some ideas and concepts and develop a product. It was a personal electric mobility device for a winter situation, which was interesting and something they haven't done before. It was a big challenge, something that doesn't already exist, which made it lots of fun to go out there and push the limits a bit."

Lukan grew up in Humboldt and went to St. Augustine School followed by Humboldt Collegiate Institute where his passion for automotive and design took over. 

"Growing up as a kid in Humboldt I was always into cars and into art and drawing. Throughout HCI, I took lots of art classes and was always interested in that. It progressed into my career starting out at post-secondary in Humber College in Toronto. You can specify whether you want to go into product design or into the automotive section and that's where I am right now, and that's where I got this opportunity with BRP. It's been really exciting, lots of fun."

Lukan is currently wrapping up his final year with an Industrial Design Degree and hopes to crack into the industry following the internship with BRP.

"It's going to be an awesome opportunity to work at their design and innovation center. I think ill be working on some of my own projects as well as dive into some things that they're working on for the future. I think ill be bouncing around some different departments and getting to learn a lot. The automotive industry is a pretty tough industry to crack, so this is an awesome start. If I can land something permanent, BRP would be a great company to work for. Anything with vehicle and automotive design would be pretty cool, get some experience, get out there and learn new things."