myLoyalist
Home Uncategorized #Amazing50 Tour – St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador

#Amazing50 Tour – St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador

March 01, 2017

When you watch tourism commercials about Newfoundland and Labrador, you’re whisked away by the open road, blue skies and verdant grasses of the province. You can imagine yourself spotting sleepy-eyed puffins as you walk along the rugged shores of the North Atlantic.

With St. John’s being the first stop on Loyalist College’s #Amazing50 graduate tour, those easy, breezy summer days I gleaned from commercials for the province were a far cry from the grayscale weather ‘The Rock’ endures in mid-February.

Snowbanks, some of the tallest I’ve scaled, encase the streets where those bright, beaming jellybean row houses exude warmth and reflect the positivity of Newfoundlanders.

Loyalist Journalism graduate Ryan Snoddon is the Meteorologist for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. From sideways snow, freezing fog, blinding blizzards and merciless hurricanes—Ryan has seen it all. As part of the award-winning team of Here & Now, recipients of 2017 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Local Newscast, Ryan fully immerses himself in the temperament of the North Atlantic and experiences the weather at its best (and worst).

As the College’s writer and a Loyalist Journalism and Public Relations graduate, I’m always thrilled to discover Loyalist connections and to share those stories. Ryan and Journalism graduate Erin Sulley were Residence Assistants together at the College. Talk about a small world! Erin, who is originally from St. John’s, is one of the nicest, kindest people I have ever met.

L-R: Cecil Johnson (Tuckamore Productions), Ashliegh Gehl and Erin Sulley

 

As the host and executive producer of Out of the Fog, a magazine-style show on Rogers TV, Erin interviews local notables, celebrities and visiting guests. Insightful and curious, she has a pulse on the city and her passion for her media career is, well, just watch the video—you’ll see.

 

The third Loyalist grad I had the pleasure of meeting is Ryan Harding.

Ryan, who studied Film and TV Production at Loyalist, is always stylishly dressed. Like Erin, he’s originally from ‘The Rock’ and, as it happens, is close friends with Ryan Snoddon’s brother. Like I said, small world!

Covering sports and crime beats for NTV News, Ryan can often be found reporting in front of the courthouse.  

It was truly a remarkable experience exploring St. John’s, navigating snowbanks, watching ships come in and out of the harbour and striking up random conversations with everyone I met as I got a sense of the city these three graduates call home.

Categories: