Communicating for the climate—with co-op
Rebecca Parson has found unexpected overlap in her two areas of study, English and environmental science.
As a co-op student, she’s spent two summers working for BC Parks at E. C. Manning Provincial Park, nestled at the heart of the Cascade Mountains seventy kilometres southeast of Hope. Along with other staff, she lived on site at the park. Since she’s always loved being outdoors, it was a natural fit.
“There are lots of connections between English and Environmental Studies that you wouldn’t expect,” says Parson. A passionate reader all her life, she was also drawn to environmental and social justice from a young age. “I like being able to put these two passions together and link them to a career, and to community and global issues.”
Over her two summer work terms with BC Parks, Parson designed, researched, wrote, and built props for interpretive programs. Whether guided hikes or larger amphitheatre shows, she educated visitors about the Manning Park’s ecology and history.
“On a rainy day, we might have two families. Then, if it’s busy, you could have 250 people,” Parson recalls.
While she was nervous about presenting in front of crowds as a self-described introvert, she also describes the experience as rewarding--especially when kids got excited about the material, running up to her after a program to ask questions and learn more. She remembers one program about spiders that prompted a young audience member to ask her how she became a spider biologist. “So I told him, you can be one, but I’m not one! And I told him the different paths you could take to get you into that. Being in a position where I still don’t know exactly what I want to do with a career, but then being able to inspire someone is pretty cool.”
Parson is especially proud of how she was able to bring her classroom learning to her role.
“I did a program on nocturnal creatures, and as part of it, I talked about artificial light at night, and how to mitigate against how that can harm nocturnal creatures. I took ES 341: Past, Present, and Future Ecologies, and that was one of the major topics. Having the chance to absorb that and then turn around and teach it to other people, even when I’m still a learner too, was impactful.”
While the content she was teaching was firmly rooted in her Environmental Studies degree, she sees her studies in Humanities as crucial, too.
“You have to be a very, very good communicator,” she says. Getting to use her communication skills to share information she’s passionate about, when, as she says, “Eighteen-year-old me would have turned around and run away,” was transformative.
“Being forced into that environment was scary, but it was also a super big growth moment for me. So, no regrets with co-op so far. I would tell new co-op students, even if this is out of your comfort zone, you will come away from it having learned something and done something that a lot of your peers haven’t had the chance to do.”