Summer intern Elizabeth Tice earns FPAC scholarship
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Leaving family and friends to take on a summer job in another province would be a scary proposition for most, but for Elizabeth Tice, winner of a paid summer internship at Millar Western’s pulp mill in Whitecourt, Alberta, it was a an opportunity to grow professionally and personally. And the experience produced another reward – a scholarship for documenting her experiences in a blog. Elizabeth, who is from Markham, Ontario, and finishing her Environmental Sciences degree at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, earned her internship after submitting an essay to the Forest Products Association of Canada’s (FPAC) Green Dream Contest, explaining why she wanted to work in the forest industry. On the strength of her convincing argument, she was one of 14 students accepted into internships at forest products companies across the country. All interns were presented with iPad minis to blog about their experiences and raise awareness of career paths in the forest industry. As Elizabeth relates in her blog, the summer was a chance to not only see a new part of the country and live in a forest-based community, but also to put her education to the test in a mill environment. As a Chemical Engineer Intern, Elizabeth was given significant responsibility, engaging in lab testing, field work and chemical trials, some related to the new bio-energy project being implemented at the pulp mill. When interviewed by the Whitecourt Star, Elizabeth said, “It’s a huge opportunity to get an internship as a student. I’m getting the exposure and the experience in the forest industry.” While all interns wrote engaging and informative blogs, Elizabeth’s, together with those of two other interns, was selected for a special prize – a scholarship to assist with her future studies. You can read the blogs and learn more about career opportunities in the forest industry by visiting the Greenest Workforce website. Our congratulations go out to all scholarship winners and to the entire group of interns who proved to be excellent ambassadors for our industry. The Green Dream internship program is part of the Greenest Workforce initiative launched by FPAC to promote the wealth and diversity of career opportunities and the quality-of-life and financial advantages of living in Canada’s forest communities. The program stems from Vision2020, an ambitious national plan to recruit 60,000 new people to the forest industry, including women, indigenous people and new Canadians; to improve the industry’s environmental performance by a further 35%; and to generate an additional $20 billion in economic activity. |
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