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On a journey of Arctic learning Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Monday, July 30, 2012
Mercedes Rabesca has been accepted to participate in the Students on Ice Arctic Youth Expedition 2012.
The expedition - from July 29 to Aug. 13 - will take a group of Canadian and international students on a tour of Nunavut's Baffin Island and western Greenland.
"It's really exciting for me. I'm overwhelmed," said Rabesca of the opportunity to go on the expedition and to meet the other students.
The 17-year-old student at Chief Jimmy Bruneau School said she has never been "way up north" before, but always dreamed of taking such a trip.
The expedition offers youth a chance to expand their knowledge of the circumpolar world, and to gain a global perspective of the planet and its present and future challenges.
The journey on a ship and by land will involve 80 international high school students 14 to 18 years of age and a team of world-class scientists, historians, artists, explorers, educators and polar experts.
Rabesca has a number of hopes for the expedition.
For one, she wants to learn more about global warming.
"I've been interested in the science of it since I started high school," she said. "So this will be really interesting for me. I want to learn and see what I can get from there to help try to stop it."
Rabesca, who will be starting Grade 12 in the fall, is also looking forward to meeting the people of Baffin Island and Greenland.
"I want to learn about the indigenous people and their cultures and see if it's the same as mine, because I'm aboriginal," said the member of Tlicho First Nation.
She is also looking forward to travelling and hiking, seeing the region's animals and viewing icebergs.
According to the Students on Ice website, expedition activities will include wildlife encounters, educational day excursions, visits to remote communities and archeological sites, and more.
Rabesca intends to pass the things she will learn during the expedition on to the other students at Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in the fall.
"Hopefully, I will make a presentation for them," she said, adding it would show them everything she learned on the expedition.
Participants in the expedition were to gather in Ottawa on July 29 and from there fly to Iqaluit. They are to set sail from Iqaluit on Aug. 1 aboard the vessel Academic Ioffe and journey around the southeastern part of Baffin Island and then on to Greenland before returning to Iqaluit and flying back to Ottawa.
Rabesca submitted her name for the expedition when application forms were made available at her school.
"I really wanted to go to Greenland, so I got an application," she said. "I didn't think I would get in and I was shocked when I did."
Students on Ice - now in its 12th year - is an educational organization based in Gatineau, Que.
Its goal is to give the world's youth a heightened understanding and respect for the planet's global ecosystem and the inspiration to protect it.
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