Tavon Snow’s work-integrated learning (WIL) experience creating a gender-based violence toolkit for the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) in Jamaica was starting to wrap up when Hurricane Melissa hit.

For Snow, the October 2025 storm was personal. The most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record landed in the country where he’s from and where most of his family members still live. 

“Seeing all that damage, I felt connected to what was happening,” says the Bachelor of Science, Psychology student. “In psychology, we learn about the bystander effect – this idea that people don’t take action because they assume someone else will. I knew that if I had the chance to make a difference, I had to take it.”

So Snow immediately started organizing a campus screening of Bob Marley: One Love to raise funds for WROC. 

“Bob Marley’s story felt like the right way to bring people together for something meaningful. We tried to get the word out every way we could – handing out posters, being featured on CBC.” 

After much organizing, Snow was able to send much-needed funds to WROC at a critical time. 

“It was inspiring to do something for the good of it – not just for marks,” he says. “Knowing that I’m helping feels really special, especially coming from a household where helping others has always been a big value.” 

The real twist? Because Snow is a psychology student, he wouldn’t typically have been paired with WROC in the first place. The organization works with students in Kealey Dube’s leadership course within the School of Social Work, but in the Fall term, one group was short a student, which would make it challenging to deliver a robust toolkit on gender-based violence for WROC. So the prof reached out to MacEwan’s WIL office. 

Snow’s previous work on a women’s mental health project with the Edmonton non-profit organization Mi Gente, and his connection to Jamaica made him a perfect choice. And these multiple WIL experiences, he says, have changed the way he thinks about his future. 

“I know I want to create change in a more hands-on way now – to help build and support communities, especially in mental health and community development,” he says. “I want to do work with immediacy, wherever I’m needed.”

His advice for other students?

“I’d recommend WIL in a heartbeat,” he says. “Both Mi Gente and WROC were amazing to work with. Everyone was genuine, passionate, supportive and understanding, and I’m really grateful for that. Knowing that I made even a small impact on someone’s life is something I’ll always carry with me.”