The Rotary Club of Burnaby was proud to provide a scholarship to Trevor de Zeeuw on his expedition to the Arctic from July 23 to August 8.
The Students on Ice Arctic Youth Expedition 2011 is one of the most exciting and important contributions to the International Year of Youth. Building on the legacy of the International Polar Year, it is one of the most comprehensive youth expeditions ever undertaken to the Arctic!
Dana Dunne (Neil MacKay's daughter) introduced Trevor, one of her geography students in high school. Dana noticed an add for Student's on Ice about 1 1/2 years ago and asked if any of her students would like to go. Trevor said he would, so the task of raising $10,000 now became a major challenge. Trevor spent July 23 to Aug 8 on the program and will be going to UNBC this fall for environmental studies.
Trevor left Vancouver, arrived in Toronto July 23 then landed in Iceland July 24. There was a formal reception at which Jeff Green the founder of Student's on Ice gave a talk. They also visited a Viking Museum, where a viking ship was on display.
July 25 they met the youngest Canadian to climb Mt Everest and then had a reception at the home of the president of Iceland. JUly 27 they (about 72 students) boarded the Clipper Adventure a research vessel which has a full lecture hall, a library and a 5 star dinig facility. While crusing porpoises swam along beside the boat and they also saw soome blue whales. As they cruised across the Denwark straqights they gathered samples and studied the food chain. July 30 they cruised the coast of Greenlan, lots of icebergs. July31 they stopped at Prince Christenson, had a lecture on glaiology, rocks and sediment. They also viisted a geothermal hotspring. Aug 2 they set sail for Lbrador, landed at a Parks Canada site, met the Iuit leaders and visited a base camp for students, wherre a large group of other Canadian studetns were gathered to learn about the northern environment. The site was powered by solar panels and had an electric fence to protect them from bears. For dinner they had arctic char, seal vertebrea, cariboo (raw and cooked) and narwal fat. Aug 4 they had a swim in a lake (OK temperature) and in the ocean (cold), visited a heritage site on Ross Island where there was a mass burial site for 113, whose bodies had been dug up and examined in Ottawa for 25 years. Aug 5 they had a mock acrtic council meeting. Aug 6 was the last night on the CLipper Adventure and they visited northern Quebec. Aug 7 they had a short visit in northern Quebec a nd ladned back in Ottawa on Aug 8 from where they all departed to home. They are planning a Students on Ice group tp go to RIo 2012 environmental conferrence.