2024 Whisker Printing Workshop in Winnipeg

Evening of October 17th

Hi, my name is Emily Robertson. I am a 13 year old Junior Canadian Ranger, from Churchill Manitoba. I’m going to be talking about our arrival to Winnipeg, and our first morning in the city.

To start off, we flew from Churchill to Winnipeg, then drove to where we would be staying for the next few days, 17 Wing, a Military Base in Winnipeg. We arrived just in time for supper, then discussed what we would fill out free time with for that day, since we didn’t go to the University of Manitoba until the next morning. We decided to go to Polo Park for a few hours, then we would go back to our rooms to relax for the rest of our evening. This was a nice time for us JCRs so hang out and just have some time together before the big day we had ahead of us.

Morning of October 18th

Our first morning in the city, we got our uniforms on, went to breakfast, and headed to the University of Manitoba. We made our way to the classroom we would be using for the next few days. We were given an introduction to Whisker Printing, and there were some informational presentations for us, related to Churchill and our training. After a few presentations, we were then organized into groups mixed with JCRs, the University students, and students from Calvin High School, for some icebreaker activities. We were given tasks and activities to do that would take one person or even two to accomplish, which just made everyone more comfortable with each other. I noticed everyone laughing and participating together and it was a really nice experience.-Emily Robertson, Junior Canadian Ranger                            

Afternoon of October 18th Hi! I’m Jamil Dela Cruz, I’m 17 years old and I am part of the Junior Canadian Rangers from Churchill Manitoba. And I’m going to tell you about our training session for whisker printing in University of Manitoba After our lunch break, we went to the lab room and got introduced to our field groups, every group had three students. Each group was assigned a different kind of camera, and then Gregory Speiser (a teacher at Nelson McIntyre Collegiate) taught us how to use and set up our cameras. He also gave tips on how we can capture a good quality polar bear picture. We also practiced using a rangefinder properly around the university. After we got familiarized with our cameras and range finder, Dr. Emily McKinnon showed us the taxidermy of the Arctic birds, and she also showed us some of the mammal skulls. After a long day at the University of Manitoba, the Junior rangers returned to 17 Wing (A military base), and the other students went home and prepared for our evening activity.

I would say this is the most important part of our training here in Winnipeg, because knowing how to use our cameras properly is crucial, especially if we want to capture good-quality pictures of polar bears to have accurate data. I have learned a lot from this training session. I'll surely use the tips and techniques that I learned for using a camera when I'm going to take pictures.

-Jamil Dela Cruz, Churchill Junior RangerEvening of October 18th

After our training session during the day, some of the students went to Activate, but the others decided to just stay home. Activate is an interactive game room in Winnipeg, where you can play games like you were in a video game. All the students that went got divided into 3 groups and 5 people per group. We played different kinds of games inside the facility. We all had fun at Activate, it was a great place to have a bonding with your friends or family. After our time in Activate, the Junior Rangers decided to get some pizza and chicken wings for our snacks, and then we headed back to the 17 wing to take a rest.

This evening activity helped us to bond well, because the games in the facility needed teamwork for you to win the game. That created a strong chemistry between all of us, which made the field work fun and enjoyable. It also made the field work easier because we were all working together.-Jamil Dela Cruz, Churchill Junior Ranger

Morning Of October 19th

My name is Aralin Hicks, I am 16 years old and I am a Junior Ranger from Churchill Manitoba. Today is October 19th, 2024 and I will be telling you a bit about my day in the Whisker Printing program! Our little group that came from Churchill is me, Jamil, Emily, Joaquin and Jill. Jill is a Ranger and she leads the Junior Ranger program.

Today we are going to the zoo to learn loads of things about bears and how to do data. We are going to be taking pictures of the Polar Bears because when the NorthStar group goes to Churchill we will be taking pictures of all the Polar Bears we see on the land. Going to the Zoo is exciting for us Churchill kids because we have nothing like that in our community. I find it cool to see different animals I've never seen before and walking around such a big area.

We woke up bright and early at 17 Wing. 17 Wing is an army base in St.James close to the airport in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We hopped into the car and we drove to the zoo. We were early so we went for a walk. It was a bit chilly that morning but it was beautiful seeing all the fall colours and hearing the geese call. We were going to check out the sculpture garden but it was closed so we just went to check out the duck pond and the playground. A couple of us went down the slide and we had fun running around there for 10 minutes.

The Churchill Junior Rangers killing time in Assiniboine Park before the beginning of day 2 of the workshop.

It was time to head back because we were going to meet the NorthStar group at the zoo. On our way back we stopped on a sidewalk and we took some pictures with the fall colours in the background. We came into the zoo and we had a presentation in the Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre. The presentation was about Bear biology and behaviour by Dr. Jane Waterman, a professor from the University of Manitoba. Greg, a high school teacher from Winnipeg, taught us how to organize the data and use software. We worked with our groups and practiced using the software. After that we carried on with our groups by practicing taking pictures of the Polar Bears and other animals as well. We all got a chance to get familiar with the camera we were using.

-Aralin Hicks, Churchill Junior Ranger                                                                                                                                                   

Listening to Dr. Jane Waterman’s presentation at the zoo (left). Practicing with the camera at the zoo (right).

Afternoon Of October 19th 2024

Hi, my name is Joaquin Lofamia, I am 16 years old and I am a Junior Canadian Ranger from Churchill Manitoba.

In the afternoon we gathered into our groups of three students and then teachers taught us how to use the Whisker Printing App so when it is time to do it we can do the data by ourselves. After they taught us how to use the app, me and my group walked around the zoo to practice taking pictures of the whiskers of the animals and also the body condition. After taking pictures we went back to the room and we calculated the size and the body condition of the animals. Next thing we did we looked at the photos that we took and we checked if there’s any good whisker pictures or good pictures for body condition, some pictures are okay to use but we could have took some better shots but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to retake some of the pictures of the animals because it was time to go and we said our goodbyes to the teachers and to the Northstar students.

As we were driving back to 17 Wing (a military base in Winnipeg), we decided to eat dinner with our Patrol leader’s mom at a restaurant but we had to go back to our rooms in 17 wing first to change into our civilian clothes. After we ate dinner, we stopped at Walmart for 20 minutes to buy some stuff to bring back to Churchill. Next thing we did after we stopped at Walmart is we went to Heebie Jeebies (a scary maze in Winnipeg). It is a fun place to go to especially if you like mazes and scary stuff. There were also fireworks so we waited for it, and after the fireworks were done we decided to head back to the base and get some rest.

-Joaquin Lofamia, Churchill Junior Ranger

October 19th Evening Activities

For our night activity all of us Junior Rangers decided to go to Heebie Jeebies. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip, even though I was terrified the whole time. Heebie Jeebies is an Amusement park with a bunch of haunted houses. There were staff were dressed up in their costumes and scaring people. While we were in line waiting to get in, there was one scary costumed actor walking along the line scaring people before they went into the park. It sure scared me. We got into the park and we went into these haunted houses. All of us were screaming and laughing. In the haunted houses/mazes there were people scaring you and popping out of nowhere. We took some pictures with the people in their costumes and got some mini donuts. We watched the fireworks that they had. We all had so much fun. We were there for around 2 hours and then we decided to leave and head back to 17 Wing.

-Aralin Hicks, Churchill Junior Ranger

The Junior Rangers having fun at Heebie Jeebies.

Blog October 20, 2024

We woke up early to eat breakfast at the cafeteria and after we were done eating, we headed out to the airport. When we got there we checked in and went through the security and went to our gate and next thing we did was we walked around the airport until it was finally time to go back home to churchill. I really enjoyed this trip to Winnipeg because I met new people and made friends with the other Northstar students. I hope I can see you guys again soon!!!

-Joaquin Lofamia, Churchill Junior Canadian Ranger.

Aralin’s Reflection

As a local indigenous student I never thought I'd get the chance to go to the University of Manitoba and the zoo and do hands-on stuff and learn about science and animals. In Churchill not a lot of kids get to go out into a big city and experience stuff like this. Most of the time it's people that can't afford to go out because a plane ticket can be up to $2400. We do have a train that goes all the way to Winnipeg, which is cheaper than the plane, but it is a 48 hour ride. I want to take a moment to appreciate all the adults that made this trip happen. I am beyond grateful for all of you and for choosing to include people from a small community to go learn with your students down in Winnipeg. Going to the workshop at the U of M was an experience. Seeing all the University students walking around and studying science at a University was so cool to me. I was just thinking “that could be me in a couple years” because I definitely will be applying to the U Of M. Thank you for sharing this with our Churchill group.

I learnt so much from this trip. Before this trip I did not know that you can identify a bear by its whiskers and to see if it's male or female you just see if it has a penal hair or not. I found that so cool. Being able to go on a tundra buggy with everyone, laughing, taking pictures, everyone crammed to one side just because there is a bear over there it made me happy because no one gets to see a Polar Bear everyday. Not a lot of kids have the opportunity to go on these kinds of trips and see what it is like in Churchill. I am so glad I got the chance to go on this trip and connect with everyone. It really is an experience and if I ever get the chance to do it again, I would.