Meet Vanessa Linowski: Environmental reclamation technician grad and outdoor/nature enthusiast
Current job: Intermediate environmental consultant with Echo Environmental Inc.
Company profile: Echo Environmental Inc is a consulting company operating out of Medicine Hat, Alberta. They provide environmental and reclamation consulting services to a number of companies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Summary of MHC education:
General studies, university transfer science
Environmental science
Environmental reclamation technician
Q: Share some stories from your childhood. What experiences made you who you are today?
As a child I was dragged on many hiking trips, and work excursions, into fields of Alfalfa where I learned to identify plants and insects. I also enjoyed getting to play with maps to follow trails.
Fishing and picking up roadkill with my dad really inspired me to want to be involved with nature.
Q: How did you come to be a Medicine Hat College student?
I lived in Medicine Hat, and both my parents teach at MHC. As a child I got to help do things at the college like feed aquarium critters, as well as collect plants and animals for their collections.
Q: Can you explain what a "day in the life" looks like for you in your occupation?
Echo Environmental Inc. provides consulting services ranging from pipeline and lease environmental inspection to consultation and implementation of reclamation, remediation and weed control programs and detailed site assessments.
A day of work varies for me and consists of a nice balance of office and field-based work. Depending on the project, my role may be to: consult with clients; go into the field and onto sites to look at soil and vegetation; dig test holes and take plant samples to identify what is growing; and prepare my recommendations for the actions required. Once the data is interpreted and the reports prepared I would schedule the work, hire contractors and do the necessary reclamation, sampling, or remediation, to complete the project. I supervise and give direction throughout the process. However, everyday varies which is one of the things I love most about my work.
Q: Why did you choose this career path?
I chose this career path because I enjoyed working outside and have participated in many of the family work expeditions throughout my youth. My favorite part of what I do is playing detective and solving problems.
Q: Do you have a memory where you had an "Ah Ha" moment and knew you were in the right field?
My “Ah Ha” moment was during a West Castle hiking field trip. We were up on the side of the mountain, and the beautiful environment was just so nice, that it made me want to do the same thing all the time.
Q: How did your program at MHC prepare you for this career?
The courses I took were directly orchestrated to work alongside the reclamation and oil field industry. I use pretty well all of the courses on a daily basis.
Q: Can you explain what you liked most about your program?
The small class sizes and intimate learning experience - with plenty of hands on curriculum - made the program very enjoyable.
Q: Would you recommend the environmental reclamation technician program to other students?
Yes! It is a very useful program which taught me a lot. It enables students to choose what they would like pursue based off of what interests them.
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