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2022 Churchill Trip


Churchill 2022 Video


Students from Kelvin High School, Nelson McIntyre Collegiate, Elmwood High School, and Gillam and Churchill Junior Rangers partook in NorthSTAR’s first trip back to the Arctic tundra since the pandemic.


The 24-hour trip started with an eight-hour bus ride to Thompson, followed by an overnight train to Churchill. The NorthSTAR group stopped by Manitoba's second largest waterfall, Pisew Falls, along the way, where they met some friendly grey jays. When arriving in Churchill, they spent some time getting to know the town and later went dog sledding. For many of the students, it was their first experience with dog sledding, making it a highlight of the first day.



"Being a part of NorthSTAR is an opportunity that not many people get in high school. It gave me a chance to meet people from Churchill and learn what it’s like to live there. It was cool to see polar bears in the wild and to directly learn about possible job opportunities after high school,” said Stephany Chuang, class of '24.

Their first polar bear sighting was a special moment; many tourists scream and run across the tundra buggy to see a bear, but NorthSTAR students knew that since they were taking on the role of scientific researchers, they had to stay calm and collected. As the buggy approached the first bear, students opened up windows and readied their cameras. The buggy was silent other than the constant sound of cameras clicking and pencils against paper collecting data. Over the course of two days in the tundra buggy, the group saw a total of 8 bears, including a mom with its cub, and a sparring duo.





"NorthSTAR was a chance to meet people who live a very different lifestyle than me and see what life is like up north. It allowed me to take part in real scientific research that is able to help people in the real world. This program is more than just gathering data, we also have the option of doing more work later to analyze and present our hard work,” said Léa Morgado, class of '24.

Although the week went by quickly, this trip will sit closely to the hearts of the enthusiastic students. As for next steps for students with NorthSTAR, they’ll analyze data and use it to compare and contrast two different methods of non-invasive to measure Churchill polar bears’ health. This data will then be presented at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE) which will be held in Winnipeg this upcoming June (see 2022 Conference).

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