Employment and Volunteer Work

Employment Related Acitivty - Green Jobs

I had the opportunity to work for the Ministry of Agriculture in the Kamloops Branch as part of an 8 month co-op position from May to December of 2013. This gives me well over 1000 hours of work. My title was Agroforesty Technician, where I was exposed to a wide variety of field environments, data collection, and analytical tasks during a field study in the North Okanagan. I installed sample plots and collected baseline data under supervision of a researcher, used GPS instrumentation in the field, and created communication materials. I also worked and liaised with other provincial agencies, private consultants, stakeholders, and federal agencies while working on land use inventories and soil moisture studies. I also helped in preparation of deliverable documents for government and industry projects. I believe this experience is a good foundation towards further career-related experiences.

The agroforestry field study is outlined in the video below.

Please see the attached PDF for a full reference from my Manager, Lisa Zabek, regarding my time with the Ministry.

I also worked for 2 years at an organic market, cafe, and restaurant in the East Kootenay Region of BC. The market was full of fresh produce and items from the local area and the cafe and restaurant did it's best to support local food producers in their creations. During the harvest months I would get my hands dirty in the field, harvesting carrots (below) and other vegetables, and during the winter I would work in the cafe, serving fresh, local food. This job really connected me to the food that I consume and taught me to really be conscious about the food that I buy and the people/companies that I support.

Comminity or Volunteer Work

I have been involved with the City of Kamloops, volunteering with the Community Planning Supervisor with a couple of different projects. I co-wrote a Youth Engagement Strategy proposal to be potentially be reviewed and used in the Official Community Plan review and update in 2015. I was also involved in the Public Engagement component of the KAMPLAN review and update in the fall of 2014. As a group, we attended different community events to reach out to community members for ideas and knowledge sharing around bettering Kamloops as a community. There were environmental components, transpiration, quality of life, economy, and housing.

Ted Morton and I at the Kamloops Farmers Market, October 2014.

Please see e-mail from Maren Luciani, the Community Planning Supervisor for the City of Kamloops.