Camille Slack and Serena Soucy are going to change the world.
For them, there is no doubt about it. At 16, the girls know it. Their confidence is matched only by their belief the future of the planet is not a cause or a project, but a responsibility – and the time for action is now.
On Dec. 27 Slack and Soucy, childhood friends and Centre Wellington District High School students, will embark on the adventure of a lifetime. They will brave the frozen frontier of the Antarctic on a 15-day expedition that will forever change their perspectives, and ultimately, their lives.
They have been accepted into the Students on Ice program, an educational expedition that takes students, artists, scientists and teachers to the world’s polar regions to study issues around climate change and delicate biodiversity. “It is a little like going to another planet,” said Students on Ice founder and executive director Geoff Green. This will be his eighth expedition.
“It’s not an experience you can put into a box. Students will be exposed to … a greater global perspective and greater connection to nature, about different sciences; like climate change, environmental issues, flora and fauna… It’s very a very broad and multi-faceted experience.”
Slack and Soucy were among six accepted from Ontario – and the only two from Wellington County. They will join 55 other students from across Canada, the United States, Iceland, India, Germany, New Zealand and Australia.
“The bottom line is we’re looking for students who are interested and passionate about doing something like this,” Green said. “It’s not a vacation, it is an educational program. We look at their interest and what they will do with [what they learned] afterwards.”
The two had a competitive edge after participating in a four-credit interdisciplinary program offered through the Upper Grand District School Board called the Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP). Academic advisor Joel Barr encouraged them to apply after seeing their commitment to environment.
Soucy said one her favourite parts of CELP was the Earth Keepers, which involved teaching grade 5 students outdoors. “I fell in love with teaching them, with inspiring them to see the beauty of nature. One of the things I did was called a diary walk. I took them on a tour of the property where I could point out different things, like getting them to walk in the woods with their head up … I wanted them to look up and really see the all the amazing things there are to see around them.”
Through CELP, Soucy discovered a passion for inspiring children to make a personal connection with nature.
“Serena is a leader … perhaps the most mature and confident 16-year-old I have met,” Barr said. “There is a sense of wonder and awe in Serena while she shares her love and knowledge of the natural world that I have never seen before from my students. Kids feel her sincere passion; it is infectious.”
Meanwhile, Slack is looking at ways to build solid community partnerships between CELP and other schools, broadening the scope of education and skills she acquired there. She plans to form a youth council for like-minded students interested in environmental issues.
“Camille is driven by a strong sense of social justice and her desire to work for environmental solutions, beginning with changes in her own life,” Barr said.
“Conscious decisions on food sourcing and best practices for lowering her personal ecological footprint was her first start.”
He said Slack and Soucy volunteered this past summer at a local community shared agricultural farm.
Slack and Soucy are in their school’s eco-club, while balancing an active role on school Sports teams and adding an environmental high-skills major to their French immersion studies.
Their journey to the Antarctic begins in Ushuaia, Argentina, where they will spend two days preparing for the Antarctic, including hiking the Patagonian Andes.
Then they will board the specially designed ice-class M/V Ushuaia expedition vessel, a former U.S. research ship that will be a floating home, complete with seven Zodiacs that allow students and crew to explore the Antarctic region.
“We head out the Beagle Channel, which is pretty spectacular, and set sail across the Drake Passage, and it takes two days,” Green explained. “It can be pretty rough seas, some of the roughest in the world. There can be quite a bit of seasickness, but that’s part of the process. And then they’ll see Antarctica.”
Soucy admits seasickness is a fear, but shares Slack’s sentiment: “Sea sickness is not going to ruin this.”
A positive attitude will be key when confronted with what Green described as an action-packed itinerary, where any given day can include visiting an international station, a penguin colony, watching whales and sea birds, seeing the wandering albatross or hiking a glacier.
“I am really excited to see the animals and the different wildlife,” admitted Slack. “Serena has taken out books from the library about different types of animals and what they eat, and where they live. I can’t wait to get to see that.”
Soucy is interested in the impact of the depleting ozone layer and hopes it will help her understanding of what she will experience in the Antarctic.
“I think my research will help me [like when I see the penguins],” she said. “I will actually understand what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, so I think this will give more meaning to what we are doing there.”
Slack agreed. “We have learned a lot about the changing migration patterns too, because this [trip] is a study of climate change and so we learn how [the planet is] getting warmer sooner is making these animals move sooner, which is disrupting how things normally go … So I feel like it is going to be really eye-opening to see how their lives are going to be affected by what we’re doing.”
That’s exactly what Green wants his students to feel.
“The underlying thing is that this trip connects kids to nature on a level that is in their heart and in their bones,” he said.
“Because when they stand on a glacier or they look into the eyes of a polar bear, they connect and we are so disconnected from the natural world.
“There are many emotional moments. It can be an encounter to see a whale or a polar bear or a penguin. It can be foreign, issues of homesick and seasickness and that’s part of the process, to give everybody a really powerful or transformative experience. It has to be that way.”
To balance that, Green has a team of educational leaders to help the students. They participate daily in a host of workshops and lectures, provided by scientists, educators, photographers, visual artists, musicians and a film crew recording the journey.
“The lead singer for the band the Great Lake Swimmers [Tony Dekker] is going to be on the trip,” Soucy said. “And when they told me that he was coming I was so excited that for sure, I am bringing my guitar. He’s going to be offering singer-songwriting classes on the ship. That is definitely going to be one of the many, many highlights of the trip for me.”
Before she can focus on the highlights to come, Slack faces the challenge of raising the $13,500 for the trip in a short period of time. But she is not one to give up.
“I’m trying to fundraise my way there,” she said. “I have been emailing people and will be asking local service organizations and groups for support.”
Her first official fundraiser will take place on Dec. 7 at Bungalow 55, a cooperative centre for social change on Geddes Street.
Slack will be holding an information night to present details of her trip, discuss her plans and sell baked goods. Other plans are forthcoming.
Soucy said, “My parents have been saving for a long time, knowing that one day I was going to go and do something like this,” she said. “We’ve never done big family vacations. I am very lucky that they are able to fund my way and I really appreciate it.”
The real work begins when Soucy and Slack return home. Green stressed students understand the trip to Antarctic is a privilege. Part of their acceptance to the program is based on their planned projects to share their experiences afterwards.
“These students have a responsibility to make a difference when they get home, to educate their communities and make a difference in the rest of their lives to payback the experience,” said Green.
That won’t be a problem for the Centre Wellington youths. Slack already has her plan laid out.
“My initial idea is to do a photo journalism exhibit and pair the photos with stories from a journal I plan to keep on board the ship,” she said. “I hope it will grow to become something more.”
Soucy wants to continue her work with children.
“I want to go into elementary schools and do presentations with a slide show of my photos and share information from my journals about what I learned and saw,” she said.
“I plan to create a hands-on component to it as well, to bring in something that the children can work with, get inspired by and take home to tell their parents. Through them it will create a whole network.”
Both are willing to do presentations to community groups and organizations. People who sponsor Slack or want to follow them on their journey are invited to view their daily online blogs and photos at www.studentsonice.com/antarctic2011.
Before they even set sail, the duo is well aware their optimism for the future will be shaken, but it is clear their determination to effect change will not.
“When we get home we’ll think, ‘Okay that was amazing, but holy cow, we have caused this problem, now how can we work to get out of it’?” Slack said.
Added Soucy, “I think one of the toughest things is to be able to come back to our community and not feel so pessimistic about everything.
“We will have to work back to that feeling of hope.”
Already, Slack and Soucy are examples of why Students on Ice exists and why there is hope for change.
“It is a cornerstone of the global ecosystem and by exposing youth to these places, well, I think there has never been a more important time to do this,” Green said.
“The power of youth is pretty amazing if they are given the proper tools and experiences. They are future leaders, and if we truly believe that, we need to provide and support opportunities for them today. So if the community can get behind it, what they are doing is greater than just supporting these two girls.”
For more information on their journey, to help Camille raise funds or to book the students to speak about their experiences, contact them by email (Slack at camilles1@hotmail.com and Soucy at tansyfairy@hotmail.com).
