Stephanie Lacasse was born and raised in the North Island and has enjoyed every second of living here on the coast.
On a daily basis, Lacasse, who is still a full time student at North Island Secondary School, strives to support the community and protect the surrounding environment while at the same time being very community minded.
When asked about all the volunteer work she performs, Lacasse noted she spends her time with the Rotary Interact, Girl Guides of Canada, the Port McNeill Chamber of Commerce, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 281, the Top Island Econauts Dive Club, and the Friends of the Marble River Hatchery.
“Being acknowledged by the community is a great honour,” she said. “I don’t volunteer to be recognized, I do it to help others and support my interest in maintaining healthy ecosystems, which is a main passion of mine.”
As for what drives her to volunteer so much of her spare time to causes, Lacasse noted it’s mainly to “support the community and my surrounding environment in seeing improvement over time and feeling a sense of pride that I helped the greater good.”
She added she enjoys seeing the “benefits that my time spent volunteering provides. As an active member of the community, supporting other members of community gives me great reward and a sense of accomplishment.”
Some of her favourite memories over the years have been volunteering at the Marble River Hatchery. “Brood collecting day is my all time favourite day of the year,” she said, noting this involves “waking up at the crack of dawn with my dry suit in hand and riding a helicopter down the Marble River to the Emerald pools. Seeing the pool of chinook and coho from the air is very exhilarating.”
Once landed, the hard work begins by pursuing in the salmon in a seine net. On land, the salmon are then sorted into groups of males and females, and by the end of the day “you feel mentally and physically exhausted while drinking a cup of hot chocolate with the crew, but it’s the best feeling in the world!”
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