A day in the life of an environmental educator

My name is Emily and I am an alumnus of RRU’s on-campus Environmental Science (BSc.) program. I came to Royal Roads to complete my Bachelor of Science degree, that I had begun at the University of Victoria. I was attracted by the Environmental Science program’s hands-on learning model, which offered more scientific field studies, lab work and relevant academic projects that would help get my career started on the right track.

I work for a small, environmental not-for-profit organization on Galiano Island, British-Columbia called the Galiano Conservancy Association (GCA). Established in 1989, the GCA is one of BC’s first community-based, land trusts. For 31 years, the Conservancy has been dedicated to: land and marine conservation, ecological restoration, environmental education and public awareness.

I started at the Galiano Conservancy as an Environmental Educator in 2018 and have since become one of the Conservancy’s Education Coordinators. In both these positions, I help deliver the Conservancy’s environmental education programs to youth from preschool and K-12 schools, to post-secondary students and to adults. To this day, it’s something I still can’t believe I get paid to do because I am outside having fun in nature. The GCA’s education programs have a huge diversity in topics: one day I might be getting kids to gently handle live sea urchins while I teach how they are taxonomically-related to sea stars, the next day I will be hiking a train of students up a mountain so they can actively restore a Garry Oak meadow by removing invasive plants. RRU’s broad range of courses helped immensely in building the foundational knowledge that I needed to teach about BC’s ecosystems and about different environmental practices we implement in Canada. I regularly draw from things I learned in my Oceans & Atmospheres, Environmental Ecology, and Geotechnology courses while out in the field. RRU’s experiential learning style also helped me develop how to communicate science in a fun and digestible way.

As an Education Coordinator, I wear many hats. I am responsible for developing curriculum for new education programs, which involves lots of research and crafting fun teaching materials like bike-powered blenders, botany-based scavenger hunts and pollinator-friendly seed balls.  I conduct marketing and outreach to our participants from the Lower Mainland, Southern Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island. To advertise our education programs I attend regional conferences, I create content for our brochures and social media pages, and I design pages for the Conservancy’s website. I also manage the education team’s annual budget and apply to many grants from foundations, federal and corporate entities.

The thing I love the most about my job is it gives ample opportunity to be creative while also being science-based. I feel empowered to share the intricate and wonderful musings of nature – something that I care deeply about – with others.

If you would like to learn more or volunteer with the Galiano Conservancy Association please visit https://galianoconservancy.ca/ or follow us on Instagram/Facebook @galianoconservancy