NAIT instructor/Olympian wins provincial mentoring award

21, May, 2024

EDMONTON, May 21, 2024 – Whether it’s competing in the Olympic Games or teaching and mentoring students at NAIT, a commitment to not only going the distance, but exceeding it is integral to Roy Sharplin’s lifelong ethos. The Olympian was recently honoured at the provincial level, having received the 2024 ASET Award for Excellence in Mentoring from the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET).

The award was presented to Sharplin, a certified engineering technologist (CET) in the biomedical discipline, during an awards event at the association’s annual general meeting (AGM) on April 19 in Banff. He was recognized for his dedication to the academic success of students through engagement beyond the classroom and even after graduation, including mentoring and advising them.

The Strathcona Composite High School graduate who competed in whitewater slalom at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games has been teaching students in NAIT’s biomedical engineering technology program for 25 years. Prior to officially launching his teaching career, his vocation as a mentor had already begun. He had been coaching in the sport of whitewater slalom canoe and kayak since he was 17. He eventually went on to coach at the national team level and became a master course conductor for Canoe Kayak Canada’s portion of the national coaching certification program.

Upon completion of NAIT’s biomedical engineering technology program in 1988, he became a preceptor for student placements, creating labs for biomedical engineering technology courses, and delivering them to the students. When he had the chance to become a full-time instructor at NAIT, it seemed like a natural progression in his career.

Sharplin’s involvement in mentoring was inspired by the time he was 15 and first beginning to race whitewater kayaks. An older athlete was his mentor and played a major role in shaping his future as an athlete. To this day, Sharplin continues to be grateful for that guidance.

He believes mentoring is universally important because people need the opportunity to talk through the complexities of life in a safe, low-consequence environment. They benefit from sharing and gaining perspective about their anxieties, ambitions, opportunities, successes, and failures, and mentors enable them to do this. Mentors relate their own personal experiences, world views, and wisdom to mentees as they discuss the issues with them.

Early on in his athletic career, he participated in the full spectrum of coaching from beginners coaching to high-performance, national team level coaching. He sees a strong connection between that sports background and his teaching and mentoring at NAIT, the expertise and knowledge derived from sports having transferred easily into his current instructional role.

“As a high-performance athlete, I learned a lot about pressure, anxiety, competition, preparation, self-discipline, and teamwork. As a team member, I supported teammates through hard times and difficult situations and they supported me as well,” said Sharplin. “I learned to put failure and disappointment into perspective and find value in the hard work, preparation, and competition even when I didn’t always achieve my goals.”

He believes those lessons and skills allow him to better assist students who are struggling to learn and who may be disappointed when they underperform. When he was young, he was blessed with an abundance of unconditional support from family, friends, workmates, and other communities, which made him feel like he wasn’t alone and wasn’t earning successes entirely on his own. He thinks that advantage engendered in him a sense of responsibility for helping others in the manner that he was helped.

“Veteran NAIT instructor Roy Sharplin has taught us that effectively mentoring and teaching a new generation of engineering technologists is on a level with any Olympic achievement,” said ASET CEO Barry Cavanaugh. “NAIT’s biomedical engineering technology program and students have won gold with such an exceptional mentor and instructor on their team.”


About ASET
ASET is the professional self-regulatory organization for engineering technologists and technicians in Alberta. ASET currently represents over 17,000 members, including full-time technology students, recent graduates and fully certified members in 21 disciplines and more than 120 occupations across a multitude of industries.

Media Contact:
Michele Penz, Calico Communications for ASET
1.778.888.2249
calicocomm@telus.net

 

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