
In August of 2019, I initially spilled the beans about working for RE Royalties as a co-op student. Despite my tell-all, I was invited back to join the team once again during the summer of 2020, and I happily accepted the offer. With classes at UBC showing no signs of returning to in-person and with an intense dislike of online courses, I decided that the opportunity to join the team at RE Royalties was too good to pass up.
The September to December term flew by, and I worked on many exciting and unique projects for the company that were all fantastic professional development opportunities for a student. Fortunately for me, while the team at RE Royalties had been tirelessly working on their green bond raise for many months, I was able to join the team as soon as all the hard work was done and could watch as the final stages of this process rolled out. I was still involved in some aspects of the green bond raise on the marketing side, which was an opportunity to round out my skillset beyond just finance.
During the January to April term, I was involved in even more projects, the most exciting being the recently announced battery transaction in Australia. It is exciting to see the company branch out from solar, wind, and hydro assets to a new and exciting area like battery storage. During this semester, I got to work on projects that I never thought I would have the opportunity to that helped me develop as a professional. Projects ranging from database development to pricing analysis in Python that I never thought I would have the chance to do outside of school.
Coming back to RE Royalties for another eight months was quite the difference from my first term, even excluding the fact that it was entirely online! From the moment I rejoined the team, I was treated as a member of the team. Not an intern that needed training, not a student that should make coffee runs, but a valued and integral part of the team. In this environment where I had already earned the team's trust, the responsibilities that I was given and the opportunities available for me increased exponentially. While my formal job description was Junior Financial Analyst, my involvement extended far beyond finance into marketing, accounting, investor relations, and more. This exposure I had is a true testament to the dynamic culture at the company and is one of the elements I enjoyed most.
In total, I have spent 12 months at RE Royalties. When I first entered the co-op program at UBC, I always anticipated that to get the full value of the co-op program, I would need to do a plethora of different internships at different companies to fully develop myself professionally before graduation. However, I quickly realized that an internship at RE Royalties outperforms when it comes to responsibilities, learning opportunities, and professional development support. I am delighted that I found RE Royalties for my first internship, as it surely altered the course of my career.
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