Students On Ice Arctic 2009 – Off the Ice

Now that the Arctic 2009 trip is behind me and I’ve had a week or so at home to process and consider the experience, there’s a few things that have occurred to me that I think I’d like to share.

The experience for me had several levels. On one level, there was simply the experience of being a learner. Having never traveled to the Arctic before, there was a lot for me to learn. I’ve read and watch photos and videos of the ecosystems and landscapes, but I’m not sure it prepared me for the reality of it all. One word the kept coming up in my mind was simply ‘big’. Everything was big. Ocean, cliffs, fiords, sky. All big. As a science teacher, I was fairly well versed in the academic view of the north, but the reality and boldness of it took me a little bit by surprise. I can see how people get attracted and get ‘pulled’ to the region.

Another level of learning and interest was watching the logistics of the journey unfold. As someone who had taken students on canoe trips, I know how difficult logistics can be. Students On Ice is a machine when it comes to dealing with the difficulties of an expedition like this, which are magnitudes higher than anything I had ever dealt with. It was quite a thing to watch develop, and I learned just how good they are at doing it, since for the most part, it was never obvious what the staff were dealing with, but I know that the behind the scenes experience was far different sometimes. Kudos to all of the SOI team!

The greatest impact for me was as an educator and watching the students develop as a group and as individuals. As someone who has worked and taught environmental education for a number of years, it truly was a joy to behold the process that the SOI experience led them through. The days were absolutely packed with activities and experiences that were all focused on the goals and outcomes of the journey, which is to awake and ignite the fires that are in all of the students. It didn’t matter what the passions were, although environment is obviously a common theme, each student was given opportunities and encouragement to develop skills, knowledge and abilities that they may have had before, or may not have known that they had.

It was sheer joy for me as a teacher to watch and help students as they talked, discussed, wrote, blogged, painted, sketched, played or simply watched the world around them. It firmed up my belief in experiential education, getting students outside and the purpose of education as a whole. It energized me to take these ideas forward and attempt changes in my own practice and to develop ways of supporting others.

Post trip, it’s been fun as the students have continued the conversations and have posted photos and videos on their shared Facebook group. I’ve posted my journal entries, and about 200 photos on Flickr for all to see. I’ve read most of the student journal entries on the Students On Ice site, as well as blog posts that my roommate Mike was making from the ship.

We know that we live in a super-connected world and it was good for a time to be in a ‘quiet’ zone and offline. It’s also great to watch the conversations and sharing continue between the students and the staff, as we all move forward and support each other in whatever activities we pursue now that we’ve returned from the Arctic. It’s fun to watch that too!