Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 18/99) - Mildred Hall school students were treated to a slide show last week of their recent Grade 8 class field trip to an RWED research station on Daring Lake in the Barren Lands.

According to the class's teacher and trip organizer, Jeff Seabrook, the May 11-14 trip held a specific importance to the students who attended because it gave them a first-hand look at the ecosystem of Barren Land areas.

"The purpose of the trip into the Barren Lands was to see what that ecosystem was all about," Seabrook said. "The area is important for all sorts of wildlife, birds and fish.

"Grizzly bears, wolverines and caribou all live there. We also found evidence of past-existing Inuit and Dene cultures that used the area as a summer hunting ground. There were old tent rings from their camps everywhere."

The trip was accompanied by RWED educational instructor, Brenda Hans and biologist Steve Matthews, who instructed students in snow studies, which measured depth and melting rates and also demonstrated how to use radio collars to track animals in the wild.

The research station is frequented all year by researchers and university students who come from all over the country to study the area. The camp is also used during the summer to take a select group of high school students from across the North to learn more about the Barren Lands.

The father of a student in Seabrook's class happened to be the one in charge of the camp, and out of this relationship, came Seabrook's idea to take his entire Grade 8 class to that particular location. The next step in realizing the trip involved raising funds to take the approximately 20 students. "We were fortunate to have the support of so many local businesses that helped us fly in and out of there," Seabrook said. "We also started fund-raising in September with a student-run canteen twice a week and bake sales. We also received aboriginal funds from Yk school district 1."

When the class made it out to Daring Lake, the anticipated results of the trip were felt immediately.

"It was a huge success," Seabrook said. "Our first day there, we took out the binoculars and spotted caribou. For the students it was just like, 'hey cool.'"

"We had five or six kids who had never seen a caribou in their lives, so we Ski-Dooed right up to them and watched for 20 minutes."

For student Trevor Vanwert, it seemed almost improbable that one could get a tan so far north and remote.

"It was pretty cool because the first two days we were there we got sunburnt," Vanwert said. "We saw thousands of caribou. I definitely want to go back."

The feeling was mutual for fellow student, Mitchell Bromley.

"It was very fun," Bromley said. "We got to jump off eskers and drive Ski-Doos."

Even though the trip is over and Seabrook's current Grade 8 class is preparing for summer vacation, there is hope that this class trip will not end up as a one-shot deal.

"We're definitely going to try and do this every year," Seabrook said.