Part 2: Introducing the 2026 BC Summer Staff
Continue to get to know our crew! (Read part 1 here)
By Madi Headley, Communications & Storytelling Assistant
July 30, 2026
As the season shifts towards high summer, we are excited to introduce our second wave of summer workers at the BC Environmental Centre! The Canadian Summer Jobs (CSJ) program makes it possible for a total of 25 seasonal workers to participate in the A Rocha community life and work—from running day camps, to hosting meals, to maintaining the property, to restoring the ecosystem in and around the Tatalu.
Here are the rest of our brilliant summer workers:
Annika Mast
Hospitality Assistant
Fort Langley, BC
An animal you relate to: Sea snail—pretty chill animals, but can be random and spontaneous at times. They’re silly!
Current favourite plant: Sword fern.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: Probably just honing my cooking skills for larger groups, and how to flavour dishes well.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: The missions trip I’m going on at the end of July.
Breanna Harrison
Farm Assistant
Ottawa, ON
An animal you relate to: The meerkat—they are observant little creatures, always looking at everything around them and always surrounded by others!
Current favourite plant: My all time favourite plant is Herb Robert. It’s this beautiful tiny pink flower with lace-like leaves that looks like it was painted with God’s smallest paintbrush.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: I’m excited to learn about how to integrate my faith into my work with the environment.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: I am looking forward to exploring BC and making new friends!
Ella Majeau
Environmental Education Assistant
Spruce Grove, AB
An animal you relate to: An animal I relate to is owls, because I love the quiet hours of the evening and morning. Owls are known for their good eye sight and observation skills; I relate to this concept of learning through observation, and being aware of my surroundings through intentionally taking it all in through trying to be observant.
Current favourite plant: Western Red Cedar.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: I am excited to learn more about this environment—being a temperate rainforest is something new to me and gives me many species of plants and wildlife that I have to orient myself to. Being able to explore and learn along with the kids is something I find greatly fulfilling!
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: I am very excited to get outside and explore new hikes and camping spots in this area that I have never done before!
Eliot Enns
Maintenance Assistant
South Surrey, BC
An animal you relate to: Coyotes, and I’m not sure why.
Your current favourite plant: Western Sword Fern.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: Just general maintenance things.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: Doing some cool things outdoors and working on my photography.
James Enns
Farm Assistant
South Surrey, BC
An animal you relate to: Maybe a barred owl. I’m a bit of a night person, so usually it’s just me and the barred owl behind my house who are awake.
Current favourite plant: Ponderosa pine—love the pattern and colours of the bark.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: I would love to learn more about the seeding process and the different flower species growing on the farm.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: Probably going on a backpacking hike with my brother and sister at Manning Park!
Jared Sumner
Maintenance Assistant
Langley, BC
An animal you relate to: Beaver! They don’t always finish projects on time but they eventually get done. They like to build stuff, hit things, and hang out in and around food. Definitely an easy pick.
Current favourite plant: Poppy (same name as my dog).
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: Harvesting vegetables and doing fish rescues has been really cool and interesting.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: Honestly just having more time and space to be outside and enjoy BC and the island to the fullest.
Madeleine Boisclair-Joly
Maintenance Assistant
South Surrey, BC
Animal you relate to: A sloth? Cause I’m always sleepy.
Current favourite plant: At the moment it’s columbine, but it’s hard to choose when you live on a flower farm!
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: To figure out how to stop getting slivers every time I accomplish a task.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: Finally getting my bike fixed! Aaand eating Ute’s lunches, of course.
Nicholas Lago
Environmental Education Assistant
Surrey, BC
An animal you relate to: A fox! I think that a fox’s personality is very similar to mine, especially with the playfulness. I would say I am incredibly playful and joyful, and foxes just fit that vibe in my head!
Current favourite plant: Monsteras.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: I am excited to learn to be a better steward of the land and how I can personally make changes in my daily walk to take care of creation better.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: I am looking forward to being back home in Surrey for good. No need to cram in adventures or feel like time is ticking, but to just enjoy without feeling rushed! Those adventures consist of going to the mountains, the lakes, and being with my family.
Sabrina Oliveira
Farm Assistant
Toronto, ON
An animal you relate to: I relate to the curious and playful nature of the North American river otter. I am also a freshwater lover!
Current favourite plant: The Painted trillium always catches my eye back home, standing out amidst the forest understory with its white petals and vibrant pink centre.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: I’m excited to be part of the community, to learn and laugh with the farm crew, and to continue my spiritual journey.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: I look forward to contributing meaningful, hands-on work at A Rocha and spending weekends trail running, swimming, hiking, and exploring alongside the A Rocha crew!
Taleshia Patterson
Farm to Families Assistant
Surrey, BC
An animal you relate to: I have a Shetland sheepdog named Oakley.
Current favourite plant: The golden raspberry variety.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: Learning how to turn rarely used parts of the plant (like the flowers) into culinary masterpieces.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: Backpacking in the BC mountains.
Taron Kang
Farm Assistant
Langley, BC
An animal you relate to: The white Siberian tiger. I don’t really relate to it, but it’s the South Korean national football team’s mascot.
Current favourite plant: My favourite plant is the mango tree, because the fruit is amazing.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: I am excited to work outside all summer and to learn more about sustainable farming.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: I am most excited this summer for the World Cup. (Editor’s note: This interview was conducted in early July).
Zinnia Enns
Farm Assistant
Surrey, BC
An animal you relate to: A grizzly bear because I love to eat berries.
Current favourite plant: Snapdragons.
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: I’m excited to learn how to transplant plants.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: I’m excited to go backpacking on Heather Trail.
Zoie Ho
Environmental Education Assistant
Hong Kong
An animal you relate to: Chinese White Dolphins (a.k.a. Pink Dolphins) would be my top pick. My first environmental related job was being a conservation assistant. One of my main responsibilities was managing stranded cetaceans in Hong Kong and helping with necropsies for further examination. It was my first time, and sadly, not my last time, seeing green plastic inside dolphins’ stomachs. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to do more for them.
Current favourite plant: Daisy!
What are you excited to learn at A Rocha: I’m really excited to unlearn and relearn all the things here this summer! I’ve always been really into the wildlife and ecology in Hong Kong and I love sharing these fascinating wildlife stories with people. (I love the moment when their eyes are sparkled and wowed by the awesomeness of creatures!) But after moving to Vancouver, I realized it’s a completely different biome, and there’s so much for me to learn. I actually stepped back and hesitated to continue my Environmental Education journey because I felt like an outsider. But God kept pushing me again and again, and led me to this amazing opportunity to relearn everything, in His hands, in His timing, and in His place.
What’s something you’re looking forward to this summer: I’m looking forward to meeting with different people and learning how to bring Christ’s hope into environmental education. Also, I’m so excited to eat more ice cream, bread, desserts… basically anything with black sesame in it!
Photos by Madi Headley.
A Rocha Canada’s BC Environmental Centre is grateful for funding from the Canadian Summer Jobs program. Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) is a program under the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS). It helps youth aged 15 to 30 gain paid summer work experience and develop skills for the job market.
