Envirothon Alumni Profile: Carina Chan

The Ontario Envirothon program helps to prepare students for post-secondary education and careers in the environmental sciences while refining their interpersonal and teamwork skills. Envirothon touches the lives of its participants — fueling a passion for the environment and sparking friendships.

Carina Chan took part in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 York Regional Envirothon competitions. In 2020, Carina participated in the Virtual Ontario Envirothon Lab (the form that the Ontario Envirothon took during the COVID-19 pandemic). ____________________________________________________________________________________

Q: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

A: My name is Carina and I would describe myself as curious, diligent, and quiet. My interests, in addition to the environment, include music and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math).

I am currently in my first year of studying environmental engineering, possibly with a specialization in hydrology, at the University of Waterloo. My overarching career goal is to create a positive impact on the environment – possibly through research, working with water systems, and/or helping organizations to decrease their environmental footprints.

Q: How did you first hear about Envirothon?

A: I heard about Envirothon through my school’s environmental club, Zero Footprint. The club was putting together an Envirothon team, as they had done in previous years.

As far back as I can remember, I have always been interested in nature; my fascination started with cute animals and expanded to plants. I wasn’t really aware of the overlap between nature and environmental science until Grade 9, but once the connection was made I was interested in learning more – this led me to joining my school's Envirothon team.

Q: What did you enjoy most about participating in Envirothon?

A: Overall, my experience with Envirothon has been enjoyable. I looked forward to the opportunity to get outdoors, to learn various field skills and to collaborate with my team members. Additionally, I enjoyed gaining both theoretical and practical knowledge about the core Envirothon topics (forestry, soils, wildlife, aquatics – and an annual current issue).

Q: Did you develop any skills during Envirothon that you still use today?

A: Through working with my team to complete Envirothon tasks, I was able to develop collaboration and communication skills, which I use in my academic and personal life. As well, I started to understand that the environment, society, and economy are interconnected. Going forward, I will be keeping this lesson in mind and looking for connections between different parts of various problems I come across. And finally, through the presentation component of Envirothon, I was able to develop public speaking skills and practice projecting my voice.

Q: In your opinion, what do you think students gain from participating in Envirothon?

A: In addition to environmental knowledge, students also gain transferable skills such as collaboration, communication, and leadership. I think students also gain a network of peers that are interested in the environment. Being around like-minded people can serve as inspiration to keep finding ways to protect nature together.

Q: What would you say to someone considering participating in Envirothon?

A: Go for it! Participating in Envirothon is a great and fun experience. It is an opportunity to learn a lot about nature in a hands-on setting, while being with people who hold similar interests.

Q: What was your favourite Envirothon topic?

A: My favourite Envirothon topic has to be aquatics. I enjoyed the hands-on focus of the module in particular; learning about and completing the various water-quality tests are some of my most memorable Envirothon moments. I was also intrigued by how many of the aquatic organisms we studied were reflective of their environment (for example the well-established pollution tolerances of many aquatic species). I also found it interesting how water was intertwined in the other core topics and was often a connecting point between them.

Learn more about Ontario Envirothon here.