Niagara College students are among those working behind the scenes to support the success of the upcoming Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games. This past spring, two of those students – Allie Reddon and Lexi Barclay – had the opportunity to draw upon their program expertise to support the Niagara Sustainability and Sport Series, which aimed to shine a light on the link between sustainability and sport.
Presented by the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games, the Canada Games Council and Green for Life Environmental, the third installment of the series – a virtual summit held on March 25 – explored how the three pillars of social, environment and economic sustainability can be applied to operational planning, organizational structures and the delivery of major events.
Reddon, a student in the College’s Environmental Management and Assessment (ESA) program, and Barclay, a Broadcasting – Radio, Television and Film (BRTF) student, both participated in the summit as part of their internships with the Games – a once-in-a-lifetime experiential learning opportunity.
Reddon was involved in planning the virtual summit and has been working on several sustainability-related deliverables for the Niagara 2022 Games. One of those deliverables means calculating the carbon footprint of the summit by analyzing greenhouse gas emissions based on the amount of electricity consumed by event attendees. “Yes, even online events have an environmental impact,” she explained.
Reddon will go on to calculate the carbon footprint for the entire Niagara 2022 Games, happening from August 6 to 21. The calculation will track the environmental impact and serve as a benchmark for future Canada Games to help reduce their emissions.
“The focus of my work for the [Canada Summer Games] revolves around a much larger carbon footprint calculation – one that includes all the emissions caused by the two-week event,” she said. “This calculation will include emissions from electricity and natural gas consumption at each games venue, as well as ground and air travel fuel consumption.”
It’s an opportunity that has been helping Reddon become work-ready. “I’ve gained valuable work experience with project management and carbon auditing, and I’ve learned so much from individuals working in carbon and sustainability-related fields.”
In the case of BRTF student Lexi Barclay, who is graduating this June, she was able to leverage her broadcasting skills to support logistics for the virtual delivery of the March 25 summit while interning with the Games.
Barclay was supported by BRTF Professor and Program Coordinator Peter “Dutch” VandenBerg, who encouraged her to take the opportunity to put her classroom learning into practice. Since completing her internship in April, she joined VandenBerg, who is on secondment with the Canada Games as Chair of Broadcast Operations and Production Services, to support the Games further as an official member of the production crew.
“Working with the [Canada Summer Games] organizers on this delivery allows me to utilize course objectives from the program,” said Barclay. “It also offers valuable networking opportunities.”
Read more about Niagara College’s involvement as the official Experiential and Digital Production Partner of the Niagara 2022 Canada Games.
Previous installments of the Niagara Sustainability and Sport Series were offered in April and November 2021, with the latter hosted by NC’s Director of Athletics and Student Engagement Michele O’Keefe, who is a Board member and Legacy Committee Chair with the Niagara 2022 Games. NC’s Taryn Wilkinson, Sustainability Advisor, Amber Schmucker, former Sustainability and Program Outreach Coordinator, Shelley Merlo, Professor in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Sport, and Michael Audibert, Board Operations Manager, have also supported the initiative.
Learn more about the summit via the Niagara Sustainability and Sport Series website.
