“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Jane Goodall.

Introduction.

I am currently pursuing a Bachelor of Tourism Management with a minor in Adventure Studies at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. Since starting at TRU, I have gained a Tourism Management diploma, Global Competencies certification, and completed at Study Abroad Tourism Program in Samedan, Switzerland.

During my time at TRU, I have taken an interest in research, with involvement starting in the Research Coach Project with Robin Reid in my first semester. During that course, we had Nancy Duxbury as a guest lecturer speaking on the Creatour Project in Portgual; safe to say, it sparked my curiosity in research. Shortly after that, I continued as a work-study student in the Research Department under the leadership of Sukh Matonovich. My research journey only accelerated from there, with stops along the way, as a Research Assistant and Apprentice to Dr. Kellee Caton, Research Ambassador and Community-Engaged Research Fellow. My interests involve agritourism, nature and community-based development, connection to place, and food tourism, to name a few.

Criteria.

Category A: Courses (4 Points)
Category B: Volunteer Work (5 Points)
Category E: Knowledge Sharing (3 Points)
Total Points = 12 Points

Category A:

Reflective Paragraphs for Environmental Courses

Below you will find a dropdown list of my four courses with reflective paragraphs explaining their significance to environmental sustainability. At the bottom of this ePortfolio, you will find a list of verification forms with course grades.

I took People Places and the Toured Landscape with Robin during my first semester at Thompson Rivers University. This class was my first experience at TRU and where I learned the importance of connection to place. The natural environment is an essential part of travel, and this gave me a new perspective on how we view and treat the land.

During my first year at TRU, I took Environmental Issues with Billy. Billy’s pure joy and passion for the environment and national parks are infectious. On the first day, I recall him saying that this class is one of the courses that people love but can change your mind about pursuing a career in tourism because of its impact on the environment. So yes, it is a very eye-opening course to the destructive nature of tourism on the natural environment, but it also is a starting point for creating change. We learned about the golden age of road trips and how they impacted the national parks with increased foot traffic of tourists. This change in travel feels even more evident today, with the uptake in domestic tourism due to the covid related safety concerns. Such as long-haul air travel being replaced by road trips to explore the great outdoors. However, this alternative still creates a carbon footprint and will likely generate overtourism at our natural resources such as parks, resulting in the destruction of the physical environment.

During my last semester at Thompson Rivers University, I had the pleasure of taking Indigenous Tourism Studies with Courtney Mason. Over my past experiences, I have picked up little bits of Indigenous knowledge but nothing that satisfied my curiosity. The class explored the importance of land to the Indigenous Peoples, which was a considerable change compared to how Western Societies view land. Western society supports ownership of the environment and the opinion that the land belongs to us, that we can use it as we see fit. However, Indigenous connection to the land is one and the same, that they are part of the land, and it is their responsibility to protect the land. In New Zealand, there is even a body of water that now has human rights. I look forward to learning more about these connections and how this mentality could increase our respect for the environment.

This course is an Adventure Studies course, which typically not many tourism students utilize these classes, but I am so happy I did. Even taking this course virtually during the pandemic is one of the courses I resonated with the most. It instilled a “for the community, by the community” mentality when approaching tourism development. In this case, community involves the people and the natural environment of a location.

This course reminds us that you can’t come into a location and start making decisions for the people and environment without ultimately creating a negative impact on them as well. Instead, by first asking questions and understanding the environment, you can better support the needs of a community and, in turn, create sustainability for future generations.

Category B:

Integrated Strategic Planning Committee – TRU, 2021 – 2022

As the Student Representative for the Integrated Strategic Planning Committee, I participated in Goal Alignment Workshops as part of the Faculty of Adventure, Culinary Arts and Tourism team (FACT). I also attended strategic planning sessions with the Dean and other department chairs throughout the year to collaborate on goals for implementation within Thompson Rivers Universities Strategic plan for the next ten years. It was an exciting experience to see the university’s overall strategy and how we could incorporate the objectives for the Faculty of ACT objectives. Considering sustainability is one of the TRU’s Values moving forward and tourism as an industry relies on the natural landscape, it was essential to address the future goals of our department with environmental sustainability in mind.

Category E:

Research for Climate Solutions: Networking Mixer

I facilitated the Research for Climate Solutions: Networking Mixer on January 21, 2022. The mixer explores collaborative approaches and funding opportunities surrounding Kamloops’ 8 Big Moves for environmental sustainability. Originally the mixer was planned as an in-person event and needed transitioning into a virtual environment. I created the visual marketing materials seen below, including invitations, handouts, event-specific QR codes, tv ads and PowerPoint presentations. I also arranged the Zoom event, sent out email invitations and coordinated the advertising through newsletters, email invites, event calendar links and tv notifications around TRU. I finalized the speakers and notetakers for each breakout room based on the 8 Big Moves.

Before the event, I confirmed the running order and functionality of the mixer. I ran the technical behind-the-scenes details, including the PowerPoint, troubleshooting Zoom difficulties, facilitating the breakout rooms and time management. This event had over 90 participants signed up and approximately 60 guests at any given moment during the event. Overall it was a huge success; representatives took notes in each breakout room for future steps. Ideally, this type of event will be a reoccurring initiative; therefore, I created a template to facilitate future mixers with notes of challenges and ideas for next time.

Mixer Handout provided for the event, Jan 21/2022.

Mixer Handout Download

Invitation created for the event, Jan 21/2022.

You’re Invited!!Download

Giveback Piece.

For TMGT 2610 we had a group assignment to write a proposal and create a video for Environmental Issues with a green opportunity. We based ours on composting in Kamloops and supporting a petition to get city-wide composting. Between the three of us, we all came from composting communities before arriving in Kamloops and were extremely surprised at the lack of composting options available. I grew up on a dairy farm in Ontario and my partners both came from the Northwest Territories, we were all very aware of food security issues and wanted to focus our project on a food-related topic. We conducted the interview with James Gordon on the composting protocols at Thompson Rivers University as well as shot and edited the footage from around Kamloops. In competition with the rest of the class, our video received the highest grade and was showcased for viewing.

Small Steps, Big Impacts: Composting in Kamloops video created for TMGT 2610, Nov 15/2019

Leadership in Environmental Sustainability Certificate.