Prince George, B.C. – Five students at the University of Northern British Columbia have been honoured for their social and environmental initiatives at an award ceremony for the Project Change competition in Vancouver. This was the first year of the province-wide competition and students in post-secondary tourism programs were asked to create and develop an effective social or environmental stewardship project for their community. In all, UNBC students took home awards in three of the contest’s nine categories.

Dawn Hansen, Natasha Wilbrink, and Thomas Baumann received the “Best Conservation Prize” and its $2000 award for their project, “UNBC Waste Management Audit”; Carmen Marer and former UNBC student Yvette Ekman took home the Best in Region Award and the Community Development Award for their “Winter Coat and Lunch at St. Vincent de Paul” project; and Jody Phibbs and former student Stephanie Tandy received the Community Development Award for their entry, “Community Connect.”

The students were introduced to the contest by Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management professor Phil Mullins, who gave students in his ORTM 200 course the option of submitting to the course as part of the project component of the class. All but one group chose to participate.