Riley Vlooswyk

Professional Communication student Riley Vlooswyk recently completed a co-op term working for award-winning writer and environmentalist Mark Leiren-Young, author of The Killer Whale Who Changed the World. During his co-op term, Riley helped develop Skaana, Leiren-Young’s new podcast about orcas, oceans, and the environment.

Riley explains that Skaana looks at orcas on BC’s southwest coast “as a jumping-off point to talk about oceans in general and anything connected to oceans, so the culture around the oceans, the history of them, and topics about the environment.” Their published episodes include interviews with David Suzuki, BC Green Party leader Andrew Weaver, and Dyna Tuytel, one of the lawyers bringing a case against the Kinder Morgan Pipeline.

Riley’s responsibilities as an intern included researching for the podcast, liaising with sponsors, web design, digital work, and promotion. He says that the best part about working on the podcast was “seeing how a project like this unfolds.” As part of a staff of only three—Leiren-Young, producer Rayne Ellycrys Benu, and himself—Riley was able to participate in all aspects of the podcast’s production.

He also notes that his Professional Communication degree was a huge help with the web design and writing elements of his work: “I pull from my Professional Communication courses every day.”

Riley’s four-month co-op officially ended in April, but he will continue working on the podcast through the summer. “It’s really useful to Mark and Rayne if I hang around now and do more work now that the podcast has launched, because there’s just more to do.”

After he graduates, Riley plans to pursue a master’s degree in something related to communication and the environment, much like the work he is doing for Skaana: “something that I can apply to community development,” he explains. “I want to use communication to bring together a whole bunch of different ideas and improve the community through that, and make people happier.”