Business student selected as Camosun’s top Co-op/Internship Student of the Year

Dylan Kaplan, Dylan Kaplan, Bachelor of Business Administration, Co-op student

"Congratulations to Dylan and all of this year's co-op education winners," says Camosun President Sherri Bell. "Our co-op students continually go above and beyond academic requirements by clearly demonstrating outstanding applied skills and leadership capabilities in their chosen fields."

Each year the Applied Learning, Co-operative Education, and Career Services department selects an overall student to receive the Yvonne Thompson Page (YTP) Co-op/Internship Student of the Year award which recognizes an outstanding co-operative education or internship student at Camosun. The award was established by Yvonne’s friends and colleagues at Camosun, and pays tribute to the energy, enthusiasm, and dedication that Yvonne brought to her position as the co-op coordinator in the Office Administration program.

"I was so impressed reading the applicants for this award, especially the amount students and employers had to adapt this year given the ongoing pandemic," says Claudia Sperling, Director of Applied Learning, Co-operative Education and Career Services. "It was hard to pick the overall winner, but Dylan excelled tremendously in his work term role and has contributed to helping promote co-operative education to other students and institutions."

Dylan started his work term as the Support Coordinator for the Engagement and Communications Group at InnovativeCommunities.Org Foundation (ICO), a Victoria-based charity with operations in over a dozen countries. Within his role, Dylan was responsible for onboarding new members, defining role responsibilities and creating presentations.

"Dylan’s dedication and commitment was evident from the start of his work term," says Dawn Robson, Co-CEO of ICO. "Part way through his work term, he was offered the role of Leader of the Communications Group. Dylan grew his team to 11 people and he worked diligently to provide them with the necessary support and direction, which was even more difficult given the COVID-19 pandemic."

As the Leader of the Communications Group, Dylan reorganized the department so it functions better, launched the ICO World Journal newsletter and oversaw the creation of a communications toolkit.

"My co-op work term allowed me to gain more applied experience with many concepts covered by my program classes," explains Dylan. "Despite memorizing the advantages of different methods of creating job descriptions, I never actually understood how many of the advantages could be significant in the real world. Working with job descriptions in the real world made the applicability of these advantages very clear."

One of the projects Dylan worked on during his work term was a comprehensive engagement plan, which included strengthening employer relationships with post-secondary institutions that have Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) programs, and highlights the mutual benefit of including WIL students in company HR plans.

"When working on filling several newly created vacancies with my supervisor, I spotted a perfect position for a co-op student," says Dylan. "I suggested posting the position on the Camosun’s co-op job board, leading to us selecting a co-op student for the position."

By participating in a work term, Dylan’s outlook on his future career has shifted from strictly being in HR to wanting a role with boarder responsibilities.

"The wide range of tasks I worked on during my co-op gave me a taste of what it is like to work in a much more generalist role, and I loved it," says Dylan. "I gained exposure in a broad range of HR areas as well as in other fields like communications and management. I now plan to pursue a post-degree diploma in marketing after completing my BBA and pursue a generalist role that allows me to leverage both skill sets."

School recipients of the Yvonne Thompson Page (YTP) Co-op/Internship Student of the Year Award
A top student from each School with a co-op or internship program was selected amongst the nominees, with one Camosun student ultimately chosen as the overall Yvonne Thompson Page Co-op/Internship Student of the Year.

Overall YTP Co-op/Internship Student of the Year and Business Co-op/Internship Student of the Year: Dylan Kaplan
Program: Bachelor of Business Administration, Human Resources & Leadership Major
Job Title: Lead - Communications Group 
Employer: InnovativeCommunities.Org Foundation (ICO)
Please see above

YTP Co-op/Internship Student of the Year - Arts & Science: Avalon Shavers
Program: Environmental Technology
Job Title: Environmental Coordinator
Employer: Defence Construction Canada
With Defence Construction Canada (DCC), Avalon collaborated with another co-op student to update, implement, and present a Recycling Plan for all DCC offices in CFB Esquimalt. Throughout her co-op terms Avalon proactively learned and practiced new skills, while maintaining positive relationships with co-workers, employers, and clients. Avalon now works full time with DCC as a Level 7 Environmental Coordinator.

YTP Co-op/Internship Student of the Year - Centre for Sport and Exercise Education: Tanya Fogarty
Program: Bachelor of Sport & Fitness Leadership
Job title: Healthy Living Program Staff
Employer: YMCA-YWCA of Vancouver Island
As a part of her internship Tanya taught group fitness classes that were specific to chronic disease conditions, such as cancer, heart failure, asthma, osteoporosis, diabetes, etc. During her work term she was offered to assist in a research study as a Physical Activity Specialist. The study involved teenagers with mild to moderate anxiety and depression. As the Physical Activity Specialist, Tanya was tasked with introducing a variety of physical activities to the group to help improve their mental health through movement. After her internship was complete, Tanya was offered an employment position, and through the times of COIVD, she taught classes using Zoom.

YTP Co-op/Internship Student of the Year - Hospitality Management: Chloe Pasemko
Program: Hospitality Management
Job Title: Event Planning Assistant
Employer: The Good Party
During her first year in the Hospitality Management Program Chloe discovered her interest in event management. Driven by this new-found passion Chloe formed a self-developed co-op position with a local event management company, The Good Party. During her co-op term she took part in the creation and execution of many weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and other events within Victoria. Since finishing her co-op Chloe has returned to her program at school and actively applies her new understanding of the event planning process to her studies. She looks forward to continuing in the events industry in the future.

YTP Co-op/Internship Student of the Year - Technology: Caleb Liggett
Program: Mechanical Engineering Technology
Job Title: Quality Technician
Employer: JS Foster
In 2020, Caleb gained experience at BC Transit in a Fleet Maintenance Engineering role, where he helped to maximize asset reliability, performance, and life cycle costs across the province. He was responsible for developing a provincial standard for a new bike rack to accommodate larger tires, increase driver visibility, and reduce headlight obstruction. Thereafter, he obtained a position at JS Foster as a Quality Technician, where he worked to ensure the accuracy pf production run machined parts for oceanographic, transport, and precision component industries. He worked with customers and machinists to develop functional, repeatable solutions. He is grateful for all the learning opportunities at his co-op positions and is excited to pursue a career in Mechanical Design.

Camosun, located in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia with campuses on the Traditional Territories of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, is one of the largest colleges in the province.  Established in 1971, Camosun now celebrates 50 years of delivering innovative, life-changing academic and applied programs to 20,000 students annually.