SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Seeing whales and seals in their natural environment is the goal for the next couple weeks for one St. Patrick School graduate.

Goliah Makletzoff-Cazon, 17, has won a scholarship from the World Wildlife Foundation that puts her aboard Ocean Endeavor, the Arctic exploration research vessel set to leave Greenland on a tour through the Northwest Passage to Resolute next week. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

Goliah Makletzoff-Cazon, 17, said she is looking forward to seeing the wildlife and landscape of Sirmilik National Park between Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet during a nearly-two week Arctic expedition called Students On Ice. Makletzoff-Cazon will be accompanied by more than 100 students and around 80 researchers, educators and artists from 18 different countries.

The plan is to take them from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, through the Davis Strait to Resolute.

She said she's excited for the learning experience but she's a bit nervous about the transportation on the journey that will get underway on July 29.

"I've never been on a big ship before," she said. "The fact that we're going to be in the middle of nowhere, completely dependent on the ship kind of frightens me."

Makletzoff-Cazon - who works at the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre and said she hopes to become a wilderness guide in the future - was to fly to Ottawa on Sunday and partake in some orientation activities before flying to Greenland to board the ship.

"As soon as we get to Greenland, we're going on the boat and doing the western coast ... then we're going along to the Davis Strait which is the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage," she said, adding she's excited to be tracing the steps of such famous Arctic explorers as Sir John Franklin.

"That's cool," she said.

Passengers have been advised to dress warmly in layers although some down vests and toques are going to be provided aboard ship, said Makletzoff-Cazon.

She said students from Inuvik and Fort Smith are also going on the voyage.

Olivia Rempel, spokesperson for Students On Ice, said the trip will be the 15th anniversary expedition. She said the route usually traces further south but the 2013 trip had hoped to reach Resolute. Ice forced them to turn back but Rempel said the ice forecast looks promising at the moment.

"So far it's looking good," she said, adding that the ship should return to port around Aug. 12. "We haven't changed the plans yet."

Rempel said the ship will enter Canadian waters around Pond Inlet.

Students will learn from oceanographers, researchers studying glaciers, botanists and more.

"For example, our ornithologists will take the students on deck to study birds," she said.

Artists are bunking aboard as well, she said, so they can take students on deck to paint the landscapes they pass on their journey.

"There are also people interested in politics and journalism, Inuit elders, a variety of different people," she said.

When they've entered the Davis Strait, said Rempel, the students will each drop two glass bottles into the flowing current, with messages stuffed inside.

"They will wind up on different shores and there's a note in them saying to contact us," she said.

"We'll hear back from people who find them ... it helps us to study ocean currents in a really cheap and efficient way."

Last summer, a batch of bottled-messages washed ashore in Spain, said Rempel.

Many languages will be spoken on the decks of the Ocean Endeavor, she said.

Students and teachers are coming from Malaysia and a group of Rwandan students will be on board. As well, researchers from Italy, the Netherlands and the U.K. are on the passenger list, she said.

"Everyone can speak English so that's helpful but there is a pretty good Francophone presence on the expedition."