Alexandre Châteauneuf

Committed to Playing a Decisive Role in the Greater Welfare of his Community

Described by a former teacher as a “man of action who knows how to get things rolling and approach situations in a creative and concrete manner,” Alexandre Châteauneuf, a student in an integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s program in engineering physics at the École polytechnique, likes to seize all opportunities that allow him to fully demonstrate his leadership skills.

The young man considers himself a multiplying agent who aims to share his experience so as to foster exchanges that will lead to a deeper knowledge and understanding of our society’s social and economic issues and has become an expert in the art of combining social commitment, academic success and student participation.

It was upon entering the Édouard-Montpetit college and helping to organize a humanitarian aid mission to Senegal that Alexandre discovered the true magic of student commitment. The weeks spent teaching mathematics and helping to renovate a school aroused his desire to become actively involved in his own community. “During our stay, Alexandre’s compassion and outstanding human qualities enabled him to integrate easily. The Senegalese who got to know him admired him for his open-mindedness and his zeal for work. He showed that he was attentive to the needs of others and generous in giving of his time and himself,” explained Louis Roy of the Édouard-Montpetit college.

Upon entering the Polytechnique, Alexandre chose to join his student association where his main task was to limit the burden of student debt by reducing the establishment’s administrative fees.

After completing a year of studies in Grenoble, Alexandre helped organize the Poly-Monde 2006 mission to Poland and the Czech Republic. Bolstered by his experience and thanks to the strength of his leadership, he was then appointed coordinator of the Poly-Inde 2007 mission, a task requiring several hundred hours of work. “When taking on such an assignment, to be heard and respected by your peers, you need charisma and leadership as well as an exemplary multidisciplinary nature. Alexandre took up the challenge with brio,” confided his professor Roger Miller.

Because of his keen interest in politics, Alexandre also took part in Parlement jeunesse du Québec in December 2006 and his skills as speaker earned him the title of recruit of the year. In December 2007, he repeated the experience, this time as the opposition critic for a fictitious bill, a position that is rarely entrusted to people in their second mandate. He was also intrigued by the political organization of the European Union and thus participated in a European Parliament simulation in Paris in August 2007.

Ranked in the top 10% of students in engineering physics and showing a great aptitude for experimental research, in March 2007 the École polytechnique awarded him the Profil de Vinci award for excellence which honours balance between studies, social commitment and student participation.

Alexandre Châteauneuf