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REPULSE BAY - Devin Aviugana returned to Repulse Bay this past month after completing what he regards as a trip of a lifetime.

Aviugana took part in the 2008 Cape Farewell Expedition, which was the first of the expeditions to originate in Canada.

Davin Aviugana of Repulse Bay, top left, shares a special moment in Greenland with his fellow student crew members in the 2008 Cape Farewell Expedition. - photo courtesy of Devin Aviugana

The Repulse youth, who turns 17 on Halloween, was among a group of students from each Canadian province and territory that joined with international students, scientists and teachers for an expedition of discovery in the Arctic.

In all, 28 students took part in the adventure.

The expedition ran from Sept. 7 to 20 and began with a training session in Toronto, Ont.

From there, the students flew to Iceland, where they departed from Reykjavik and sailed around Cape Farewell on the southern tip of Greenland and on to Iqaluit.

Aviugana said the expedition was something he will remember for the rest of his life.

"It was the best, plain and simple," said Aviugana.

"To meet so many other people from around the world was just incredible.

"All of it was great but if I had to name one or two things that stood out the most, I'd have to say being with the friends who helped me through my sea sickness and getting to know everyone there."

Aviugana said everyone on the ship worked together and went out of their way to help each other.

He said when the group first met in Toronto, all these total strangers turned into friends in a matter of minutes.

"Then we went from becoming friends to being the absolute best of friends before we ever got on the ship," he said.

"Once we started sailing and working together, we went from being the best of friends to being like one big family."

In addition to being a lot of fun, the Cape Farewell Expedition is renowned for being an incredible learning experience for the students involved.

Aviugana was no exception, as he said he could talk a long time about everything he learned on the trip.

"I really learned a lot about the environment on the expedition.

"It was cool learning things like how to measure the permafrost and how to read the Arctic heather so you can tell how long it grows each summer and each year.

"It was a lot of fun but there was lot of work involved too, and it's not over yet."

Aviugana took part in the Carbon Footprint Program this past week on Oct. 3.

He said the idea behind the project was to make up for all the carbon you've released into the atmosphere by planting trees, doing a community cleanup or other things of that nature.

Dec. 8 is another important date for Aviugana.

That's the deadline Cape Farewell participants have for doing a presentation or school activity on their involvement with the Arctic expedition for their entire school.

Aviugana attends Tusarvik, which joins Victor Sammurtok school in Chesterfield Inlet as the only two from Nunavut to have students take part in the voyage.

Aviugana said the Cape Farewell Expedition is something he'd strongly recommend to any student in Nunavut who got the chance to participate.

"If any student gets the chance to be a part of this, take it.

"You don't get a chance like this very often in life and you gain an awful lot of knowledge from it.

"All the work you do to be accepted and then while you're part of the crew is well worth it."

Aviugana said he made friends on the trip he expects to stay in touch with for a long, long time.

"He said while he enjoyed his time with everyone on the expedition, the friend he made from Brazil and two others from Mexico have become very special to him and he plans to stay in contact with them as much as he possibly can.

"I'm going to try and keep in touch with everyone who was on the expedition with me.

"Being with everyone on that trip was such a great time that I still miss it very much.

"I have so many great memories from the trip and I'm very excited about sharing them all with my friends here in Repulse, as well as all the members of my green team at the school so they can feel like they were on the expedition too.

"I'm trying very hard to put everything together so they can feel like I felt while I was on the trip."