Student Helps Business Go Green
“It’s not easy being green,” lamented Kermit the Frog. What’s true for muppet amphibians isn’t necessarily true for Victoria businesses, as they work hard to adopt positive environmental practices.
Help on the way
Being environmental friendly is definitely on Monk Office’s corporate agenda, which includes obtaining ISO 14000 certification. They are now well on their to achieving this global environmental standard due in part to the help of Jared Noble, a co-op student from Camosun’s Environmental Technology program.
BOMA Go Green is a national environmental recognition and certification program for existing commercial buildings. To prepare Monk Office to qualify, Jared Noble spent his co-op work term putting plans in place to reduce water and electricity use at the company’s head office. This will reduce the company’s impact on the environment, and like most green initiatives, will also save money.
Using co-op students to tackle specific projects also proved very beneficial to Monk Office. “Jared was eager to work and he had the skills to complete some of our short-term projects which would otherwise not have been completed by our regular employees,” says Lumley.
Everybody learns
Jared spent his time at Monk working in several areas of the company and gained real-world experience and networking contacts. “I helped them implement an office composting and recycling program which reduced their number of garbage pick-ups by 50%,” says Noble. His work term even triggered a new idea for his final sustainability project involving energy and water efficiency.
Hiring a co-op student who is passionate about the environment proved to be a two-way education for Monk Office. “Jared taught us as much about environmental issues as we taught him about the business world,” says Jeff Lumley, Director of Operations & Facilities at Monk Office.
Monk Office is a locally owned and operated office supply and service company who have been serving Victoria and Vancouver Island since 1951. They have nine retail locations, a Furniture Idea Showroom in Victoria plus an office furniture division and commercial stationery sales.
Monk has hired many co-op students in the past but this was Jeff Lumley’s first personal experience, “I will definitely go this route again - the program was a great success for me, Jared and Monk,” says Lumley.
Jared agrees. “Students who aren’t sure whether or not to do co-op should just stop thinking about it and do it!”
Learn more about co-op education and internships from Camosun’s Co-op department website or email coop@camoson.bc.ca
Interested in Camosun’s Environmental Technology program? Start here.
