News

Mentoring from One Coast to Another

November 10, 2020

Andrew was mentoring Vicky from Vancouver to Halifax and they felt they were a great mentorship match.

Andrew de Vries has worked in the forest and conservation sector for more than 30 years. Although he’s coached and managed people in the past, he’d never been a part of a formal mentorship program before PLT Canada’s Green Mentor program.

The British Columbia local was matched with a mentee on the other side of the country—Vicky Papuga, a student at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

“I was really surprised at how well the matching software worked,” said de Vries. “It was very interesting to see how much we shared in common—not just academically, but personality-wise.”

De Vries grew up in a forestry community and was always outside as a kid. He had longstanding interests in wildlife, the environment and human cultures, and he was able to pursue an education and a career that linked his core interests.

As the Manager of Indigenous Opportunities & Government Relations at Tolko Industries Ltd., he said he doesn’t have a typical day in the office.

“I could be working on a business plan or research report, I could be working with First Nations leaders or scientists, I could be working with members of Parliament or members of the legislative assemblies,” he said. “My days are very varied.”


Andrew is featured in one of our 11 “A Day in the Life” videos.

De Vries and his mentee, Papuga, met virtually every three weeks. Papuga was completing her master’s degree in Environmental studies, so they spaced their sessions out to give her enough time to complete the mentorship chapters and her thesis.

“I liked the structure of the mentorship program and the resources that were available because it allows you to focus the discussion,” said de Vries.

Papuga had been a part of a mentorship program at school, but it was less structured.

“I got good information from my mentor, but it kind of fizzled out a little bit,” she said. “There wasn’t much to structure conversations that would take me somewhere. I think a big draw of this program is the matching, which then aligns really well with the structure. The matching program that was used was really good, so it was pretty easy to talk about and work through the resources that were provided.”

Papuga grew up in a city, but nature was a big part of her childhood. Whether it was camping up North or leading Scouts hiking trips, she said she was always more comfortable outside.

The 25-year-old actually completed her undergraduate degree in criminology and psychology before changing her career aspirations.

“The thought of the natural world getting destroyed further and further is kind of what caused me anxiety at one point,” she said. “So, I ended up pursuing environmental studies because it aligned a lot more with what I was hoping to get into.”

She is considering further education if she finds the right project to work on. She’s interested in biodiversity, conservation, sustainability and restoration, and she would like to work with wildlife at some point.

Papuga said she learned a lot from de Vries’s background.

“My department’s pretty interdisciplinary, but it’s very academic-focused. I knew about the forest sector and the environmental sector, and I knew about all the hard science that goes into it,” she said. “But in talking about Andrew’s education and career, I learned a surprising amount about how social science can actually be useful beyond academia, which gave me hope.”

“The mentorship relationship felt more organic and allowed for a more human connection than typical professional interactions you have when you’re networking or reaching out to someone in the industry,” said Papuga. “It was a great experience for me, even if we never got to meet face to face because we were on opposite coasts.”

And while de Vries said it might be a cliché, being a mentor is a chance to give back.

“I’ve learned a lot from teachers and coaches and managers over my career,” he said. “I got to provide Vicky with some of the insights and knowledge from all the different folks that I’ve learned from and continue to learn from in my career.”

PLT Canada’s Green Mentor program connects young people ages 18-30 with Green Jobs professionals. The six-month mentorship program involves meeting up (in person or virtually) two or three hours a month.

PLT Canada is launching the second mentoring cohort in January 2021. Young people who are interested in expanding their Green Jobs knowledge, goals and network can apply to become mentees. Forest and conservation professionals who want to inspire the next generation of leaders, recruit employees, and gain new perspectives can apply to become mentors.

Learn more about our mentorship program!

Adapted versions of this article also appear in The Working Forest, Alternatives Journal, and forestindustry.com.

 

RELATED NEWS

The Impact of our choices - diverse perspectives in sustainable natural resource management

Charting Career Pathways in Forestry with PLT Canada’s Specialist High Skills Major Certification

By James Thordarson, Sr. Coordinator, Forest Education at PLT Canada While many in the sector know the diversity of forest-focused career opportunities available, it can be difficult to find age-appropriate and scientifically sound programs for students considering pursuing a green career pathway. To support youth in this path, Project Learning Tree (PLT) Canada offers a Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) certification for high school students interested in pursuing a career in the forest sector. SHSM is an Ontario Ministry of Education approved program that gives…

READ MORE

Growing a resilient and diverse workforce

Growing a resilient and diverse workforce: PLT Canada’s 2023 Annual Report

We are thrilled to release our 2023 Annual Report—it was another busy year for Project Learning Tree Canada! We continued our work to provide a lifetime of learning through environmental education, forest literacy, and career pathways.   Since 2018, PLT Canada has supported over 7,600 Green Jobs, providing 50% of placements to women and 15% of our placements to Indigenous youth. We have also placed 1,900 young adults facing one or more barriers to employment, such as youth self-identifying as…

READ MORE

This Giving Tuesday Help PLT Canada Foster a Lifetime of Learning

Imagine what introducing one child to nature through Project Learning Tree Canada (PLT) can do. Imagine a little girl learned how forests improve water quality through a PLT activity. It sparked her curiosity and ignited a passion for the environment. Now she’s a water quality engineer, improving access to clean drinking water. All because of one teacher doing one activity with this one little girl. Now imagine the positive impacts 145 million students have made on our environment, thanks to…

READ MORE

Emily Prouse sitting on a picnic table with a dog.

A NEED FOR SPEED AND BEING OUTDOORS

By Emily Prouse Designing and building mountain bike trails as part of my Project Learning Tree Canada (PLT Canada) Green Job brought together my passion for the outdoors and my love of biking down mountains. The fact that I got paid to build trails in the beautiful forests outside my hometown of Quesnel, BC, felt like a green “dream” job. It’s the kind of dream scenario that I hope will help motivate my future students when I finish my Bachelor…

READ MORE

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER