The student-run Environmental Conservation Sciences (ECS) club at NAIT is entering its second year with a bigger executive team and bigger plans.
NAIT Conservation Biology graduate Alisa Echeverria created the ECS club during the third semester of her two-year diploma. Echeverria, who is now completing a master’s degree at the University of Alberta studying invasive plants, said she saw a need for students to connect with professionals and each other outside the classroom.
“The reason why I created it was to allow for opportunities for conservation biology, environmental monitoring and assessment and forestry students,” Echeverria said.
During its first year, the club helped students attend the Alberta Chapter of The Wildlife Society conference, meet museum curators at the Royal Alberta Museum and access first aid training.
“I thought it was really amazing, and such a good way to take what we’re learning and then try and put it into practice, and get experiences elsewhere.”
“As technicians, you usually don’t get those opportunities to go to conferences. You don’t get those opportunities to just go behind-the-scenes of the museum to see what’s really back there,” Echeverria explains.
Those experiences are part of why current ECS club president Rayna Gilfillan and vice-president operations Bonita Rowe, both second-year Conservation Biology students, joined the executive committee of the club.
“I thought it was really amazing, and such a good way to take what we’re learning and then try and put it into practice, and get experiences elsewhere,” Gilfillan says. “So I was really interested in trying to push forward with that.”
A wider landscape
This year, the club executives want to build on that start while widening what the club offers. Plans include RStudio training, first aid opportunities, museum tours, volunteering and potential trips to environmental conferences. “We want to give everything that we can to those first-year students, all of the support that we needed in our first year,” Rowe said.
“Hopefully they take that, run with it and do great, amazing things in the world.”
The club is also hoping to work with organizations such as Alberta Native Plant Council on plant identification walks, volunteer weed removals and other activities to get students into the field.
“A big part is trying to incorporate a lot of what feedback we’re getting from the student body as well,” Gilfillan said.
Professional development remains a priority for the club. One experience that stood out to Gilfillan was the visit to the Royal Alberta Museum, where ECS club members saw scientific collections and learned about career paths students may not typically encounter.
“It really broadened my horizons as a student, as someone new to the field who’s looking for different career paths and seeing where I want to find my niche,” Gilfillan said
Planting passion
The club is also focusing on building a community for students navigating a demanding two-year program. Plans include study sessions, tutoring opportunities and a possible mixer to bring together students from Conservation Biology, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Forestry Technology and Laboratory Research and Biotechnology programs.
Echeverria started the club to fill the gap she saw in her own program, which inspired Gilfillan and Rowe. For these current executives, continuing the effort means preserving that original purpose while finding new ways for students to learn, connect and explore where their education could take them.
Gilfillan said the club’s ambitions don’t stop at its own members. “We can get so overwhelmed with feeling like we have to change the world and save the world, but it can start with just doing something small in your own community. I hope that people can see that that’s what we’re trying to do, is to try to start small, try and inspire people. And hopefully they take that, run with it and do great, amazing things in the world.”
NAIT students interested in involving themselves with the Environmental Conservation Sciences club can follow the organization on Ooks Life.
This article was originally published in our Oct. 7 print issue. Read it online here.
Feature image by ECS Club. Photo supplied
