Q&A with Giovanni Klutse

I chose Western Engineering for its blend of strong academics, supportive community, and hands-on opportunities - an environment that lets you explore, grow, and find your path..

Giovanni Klutse

Third Year Electrical Engineering and Artificial Intelligence Systems Engineering

Giovanni is a student ambassador here to answer your questions. Click here to contact Giovanni.

Why Western Engineering?

Western Engineering leaves a lot of doors open, and that's what sold me. The co-op program gets you real industry experience before you graduate, and there aren't many schools where you can pair engineering with an Ivey HBA or a law degree, or take on something like AISE alongside your program. It felt less like locking into one path at eighteen and more like being given room to figure out which one actually fits.

What do you do in your spare time?

Most of my free time goes to movies. I'll watch almost anything, and I like picking apart how a film was put together. I also love travelling and driving, some of my favourite trips have just been long drives without much of a plan. In the winter I get out snowboarding as often as I can, which makes an Ontario winter a lot easier to look forward to.

Can you talk about your extracurricular activities at Western?

I play on an intramural soccer team, FC Brewcelona (@fc.brewcelona), and I'm the Engine Electronics Lead on Western's rocketry team, where I work on the electronics behind our engine systems. Getting involved is the fastest way to actually apply what you're learning, and honestly I've learned as much on the rocketry team as in any lecture. It's also how you meet people outside your own class, and Western Engineering has a club for just about everything.

Why did you choose your specific stream of engineering?

Electrical is the perfect intersection of hardware and software. I've been into computers for as long as I can remember and built over ten of them in high school, but I always wanted to understand what was happening underneath, not just how to assemble the parts. Electrical gives you both sides: the circuits and signals that make a machine work, and the code that tells it what to do.

What is your favourite book, movie or TV show?

Interstellar. I've always been drawn to space, and it's one of the few films that treats the science seriously without losing the story. Christopher Nolan is an excellent director, and the way he handles time and scale in that movie is something I still think about. It's also a big part of why I ended up on a rocketry team.

Who do you look up to/admire and why?

My parents. They've made a lot of sacrifices to put me in a position to succeed, and most of them happened quietly, without ever being mentioned. What I admire most is their work ethic and the fact that they never made it feel like a burden. Any time I'm tempted to complain about a hard week, I think about what they took on so I could have this opportunity, and it puts things back in perspective.