This week, I chose to write a profile on Zak Charette.
Zak is a senior fourth-year mechanical engineering major originally from Bar Harbor, Maine and he attended and graduated from Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor, Maine. At the University of Maine, he is a brother of Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) and has recently joined the University of Maine’s Her Campus Chapter as one of three male staff writers this semester!
Within his major, this year, Zak and six of his fellow classmates have been working on their capstone project which is centered around building a hybrid UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) drone. This project has been fully designed and will be built by Zak and his group throughout this semester. This is a very important project and it’s important it is executed well because if they are successful in building an operable drone, they will be the first in their department to do so, and their project will be used to capture photos and videos of the university’s campus and surrounding woods. Notably, during the course of his studies, Zak said one of his most memorable and rewarding experiences was an international study course he took during the first summer term after his sophomore year which enabled him to travel to Germany for ten days to learn about the local culture and tour the country.
Outside of his academics, Zak has been a brother of Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) for nearly four years and previously served as the social chair during the Fall 2019 semester where one of the most notable events he organized was a dinner and mini-golf social with Chi Omega. Not only has Zak gained leadership positions and attained those skills while in ATO, but he has been able to be part of brotherhood the entire time he has been at the University of Maine and cultivate a sense of home on campus. Additionally, as stated above, this Spring semester, he recently joined our Her Campus chapter as one of our staff writers and we are excited to receive and publish articles of his.
Recently, Zak received news about his post-graduate plans! Over the summer, he was an intern at Zachau Construction in Freeport, Maine where he worked in the office for about a month learning how to become proficient in PROCORE, a software that is used by many construction companies across the country. For the second half of the summer for several weeks, he worked at the LL Bean flagship store in Freeport performing tasks such as grounds work, helping to build barn doors and operation of machinery.
I was excited to be able to write a profile for Her Campus on Zak, not just because he’s involved on campus and in our chapter, but because he’s someone I am so lucky to call a best friend. I met Zak while working at Margarita’s at the Orono location this year and we quickly became friends. He’s a quiet person and comes off as such when you first get to know him, but as I have grown closer with him, he has been a true friend through some hard times this semester and is always ready to have fun after a long night at work or studying. The best way to describe him is he’s also the person that will dance with me until the last song plays and he will always out-dance every person in the bar – including myself. I’m so grateful that I have him in my life and that our friendship continues to stay strong despite whatever distance is placed between us. As I have been preparing to study abroad and working back in my hometown as I wait for my departure to Japan in April, I have come to realize just how much I miss the University of Maine and seeing friends of mine like Zak every day, but I know that our friendship is a constant that I can continue to rely on as we both begin new adventures this summer – with him in Portland and myself in Japan!