Picture it: Environmental Technology field school

Kate Llewellyn, a second-year Environmental Technology student, is using pictures to tell a thousand words.

As vice president of the Environmental Technology Students Organization, she represents the club on Instagram @etsoclub where, through posts and photos, she’s hoping to build excitement around field school and to further build a sense of community within her program.

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“I started the Instagram account to document my classes’ experience and to show first years what second year is all about,” says Llewellyn. “The first semester has a lot of introductory classes. I wanted to show the awesome hands-on learning they’re working towards.”

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She also hopes future students will see the images and get interested in the program.

“The environmental sector is growing — opportunities for jobs are too,” she says. “The program instructors are extremely knowledgeable and easy to talk to. They’re interested in your ideas and plans and always have time to go over tricky material. It’s clear they’re invested in our growth and success.”

Learn in the field from a SAIT and industry expert

Colin Pattison joined SAIT in 2006, becoming part of a team that helped build the environmental technology program. As an instructor, he teaches students, like Llewellyn, about ecology, sustainable urban design, environmental impact assessment, risk assessment and site reclamation. His work also sees him running SAIT’s field school, where students collect and analyze samples in the wilds of Kananaskis and later interpret their data to answer a scientific question.

"The best part of my job is learning and teaching others about environmental and sustainability problems and solutions.”