IKPIARJUK/ARCTIC BAY
One young Ikpiarjungmiut was ecstatic to receive the greatest wake-up call of her life: an opportunity to act as an ambassador of the North Pole for the Arctic expedition Students on Ice.
Rosalie Oqallak from Inuujaq High School is one of a few dozen lucky students who will set sail for Greenland and explore the eastern Arctic this July aboard the vessel Adventurer as part of Students on Ice. - photo courtesy of Rosalie Oqallak |
"I didn't expect that I was going to be accepted," said Rosalie Oqallak, a Grade 11/12 student at Inuujaq School, whose teacher called early last weekend with the good news. "I don't usually wake up that early on Saturdays."
Oqallak received a fully funded scholarship for the two-week, ship-based voyage aboard the chartered ice-class vessel Adventurer this July.
The ship takes 85 students from Canada, U.S. and "clear across the world," said Shirley Manh with Students on Ice, explaining the majority of students are Canadian and from the North with several also from the United States as well as Italy, Norway and China.
After a three-day orientation in Ottawa, Students on Ice participants set sail up the western coast of Greenland then across the Davis Strait to the eastern Canadian Arctic before arriving at their final destination of Resolute and returning home.
There's nothing like waking up to good news, said Oqallak who has only ever left Arctic Bay to visit Iqaluit. She wanted to be on Students on Ice expedition so she could share facts about changes in the environment, land and weather with her family and community.
"We generally look for students who display a genuine sense of curiosity," said Manh about Oqallak's application for the educational expedition. "We bring students who bring a desire to learn from the elders and scientists and also their peers.
"We look for students who have a desire to better themselves and their place in the world," she said. "I can say with confidence about Rosalie that she has a deep appreciation for the Inuit people and it means a lot to represent her community on the expedition."
Oqallak's community and school seem to share the same sentiment. She received many congratulations from friends, family and teachers.
"Rosalie is a very good attender, almost 100 per cent," said principal Abdus Salam, "She's very serious and a well-behaved kind of mature girl."
The Students on Ice program offers students like Oqallak and educators alike one-of-a-kind expeditions to the "ends of the Earth," its website states, both in the Arctic and Antarctic to "foster a new understanding and respect for the planet."
