FPAC Awards Green Dream Scholarships to 15 Students

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), Ottawa, Ont., Canada, has announced the winners of this year's summer 2015 Green Dream Internship program. Fifteen students are receiving a scholarship and an iPad mini to help them blog about their adventures as interns in Canada's forest products industry. The blogs are posted on TheGreenestWorkforce.ca, an online resource tool highlighting the future direction of the forest products industry and job opportunities available across the country.

The Green Dream blogs give students the opportunity to share their adventures over the course of a four-month work placement in Canada's forest products industry. Students from all walks of life, studying in various fields from forestry, to accounting, to human resources, to quality control, to mechanical and chemical engineering and Helitack fire support have begun sharing their stories online.

"The scholarship award given to this year's 15 Green Dream Interns will go a long way toward supporting each student's education and career aspirations within the forest products industry," said David Lindsay, president and CEO of FPAC. "And, the blogs the students will be writing over the summer will offer rich insight into the adventures young millennials get to experience in the sector.

"Reading first-hand accounts from peers about what it's like living in northern Alberta, the Prairie Provinces, or along the coast of British Columbia will allow young jobseekers the advantage of  getting to know about  a place, a company, and a job in the forest products industry through the eyes of these young people living the Green Dream," Lindsay explained.

Under Vision2020, the forest products industry intends to hire 60,000 people by the end of the decade. The GreenestWorkforce.ca features stories from a variety of employees who are working in the forest products industry and found their career in the sector because they were looking for an adventure, to make a difference, to feel valued, and to find a sense of control. Career opportunities in administration, science and engineering, woodlands, skilled trades, and mill operations are open now across the country. 

Blogs http://thegreenestworkforce.ca/index.php/blog/ posted by summer Green Dream Interns are available online. 

This year’s scholarship recipients are: 

• Darryn Florkewich, Millar Western – Helitack Leader 
• Kyle Rosychuk, Millar Western – Woodlands Roads Intern
• Jeremy Woo, Tolko – Human Resources student   
• Robert Bellamy, Tolko – Woodlands
• Devin Dake-Outhet, West Fraser – Woodlands Planning and Development
• Eric Chang, West Fraser – Quality Control Assistant
• Joe Silva, West Fraser – Silviculture Assistant
• Greg Spence, West Fraser – Forestry Operations
• Kelsey Berlinger, West Fraser – Accounting student
• Ryan Wilkie, West Fraser – Silviculture Assistant
• Taylor Tonsi, West Fraser  - Silviculture Assistant
• Amy MacTaggart, Weyerhaeuser – Chemical Engineering Co-op
• Brandon Chan, Weyerhaeuser – Quality Assurance Technician
• Shay Yaskovitch, Weyerhaeuser – Forestry Field Work
• Tanner Linssen, Weyerhaeuser – Mechanical Engineer.

FPAC provides a voice for Canada's wood, pulp, and paper producers nationally and internationally in government, trade, and environmental affairs. The $57-billion-a-year forest products industry represents 2% of Canada's GDP and is one of Canada's largest employers operating in hundreds of communities and providing 230,000 direct jobs across the country.

More information about Vision2020 is available online.