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Greg Veinott has never officially worked for the city of Halifax or the community of Beaver Bank, where he grew up. Yet through his education, employment and volunteer activities, Veinott constantly works to benefit his community.

Veinott is poised to graduate from the Bachelor of Management program with a major in sustainable resources and the environment. He enrolled in Management partly out of a desire to stay in the Halifax area, and partly because the program appealed to him strongly. 鈥淭he Management program kind of separated itself from Commerce and a lot of other business degrees because of the breadth of the program,鈥� he explains. Over the last four years, Veinott has been on the Dean鈥檚 list consistently, and has won numerous scholarships.

Veinott has also been active outside the classroom, especially on the 7 Speaker Series, which brings business, community and public figures to speak in the Faculty of Management. For the last year, he has been the series鈥� chair. 鈥淭he last couple of years I鈥檝e been going to the events,鈥� explains Veinott. 鈥淭here was a great opportunity for me to bring in really inspirational people to talk to students, but also for me to connect with people locally and across the country.鈥� He recalls the positive impact of speakers like Wendy Bennison, COO of Roots Canada, and Gregg Curwin, CEO of TruLeaf, a local company that works on indoor vertical farming. Curwin鈥檚 speech appealed to Veinott鈥檚 interests in sustainability and food. 鈥淭hat was a really interesting talk,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚t gave a lot of information about where we鈥檙e going with food security.鈥� As chair of the series, Veinott hosted speakers who were engaging and educational, doing everything from deciding on speakers to contacting them to arranging for flights to marketing the series. Marianne Hagen, alumni officer for the Faculty of Management, helped with booking rooms and other logistics.

聽鈥淐ommunity involvement and the sustainability space is something I鈥檓 interested in,鈥� says Veinott, who puts this interest into practice. In his community of Sackville鈥揃eaver Bank, Veinott has been a Scout leader for several years. He was also on the Board of Directors for the Cobequid Radio Society, helping to start up a radio station in the Sackville鈥揃edford area. Although he lives in Halifax now, Veinott still has strong ties to the Sackville鈥揃eaver Bank community.

Having finished his degree, Veinott is now working for TruLeaf, a testament to how the 7 Speaker Series inspired him. He is considering doing a master鈥檚 degree eventually, but for now wants to put some of his learning into practice. 鈥淚鈥檝e been thinking of the School for Resource and Environmental Studies for graduate school,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 feel like I want to stay here.鈥� While many Nova Scotia university graduates want to explore the rest of Canada, Veinott, unsurprisingly, prefers to continue giving back to Halifax. 鈥淚 want to stay here,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd see if I can have an impact and see what I can change.鈥�