Hello, my name is Glenn Gentil and I am an ECCE student associate working towards my Graduate Certificate in GIS at the Centre of Geographic Sciences, NSCC. 

Portrait photo of Glenn

When I first graduated high school and was looking towards the future, GIS was not on my radar. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of Geographic Information Systems before. Instead, my passion for coding led me to pursuing a bachelor’s in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. 

Although I was enjoying my studies, unfortunately Covid-19 cut my first school year short and I, like many others, found myself in a place of uncertainty. I decided to delay my schooling and instead take a gap year.

I returned to academia one year later, this time studying English at Vancouver Island University with the intent of becoming a teacher. It was that year when I made a decision that ultimately changed my life forever: I chose to take an elective in Geography. Viewing the world through a geospatial lens, seeing how human culture is directly shaped by the natural environment, and being able to apply those concepts to explore complex geopolitical issues, it sparked a passion within me that I didn’t know I had. Though I did continue studying English, it became my minor while I switched my major over to Geography.

During my Geography degree I discovered GIS and instantly fell in love. It allows me to combine my background in coding with my love for Geography and provides me with tools that I can utilize to do research into geospatial topics that interest me most. I knew I wanted to pursue GIS further: after finishing my degree, I moved across the country, from a small town in British Columbia to an even smaller town in Nova Scotia, to obtain my graduate certificate in GIS. 

It’s here where I am continuing to delve into the world of Geographic Information Systems at the Centre of Geographic Sciences. As I wrap up my first semester I have taken on so much new knowledge, from creating and managing relational databases to engineering models within the ESRI suite of softwares to simplify and streamline workflows. As I look into the second semester and beyond, I can’t wait to learn even more about GIS and continue working with geospatial data, and I hope to apply those skills in my future career.