About Us
Making A Difference
Ways To Give
Apply For A Grant
Professional Advisors
Foundation News
Campaigns |
 |
| Sign up to receive our e-newsletters! |
 |
 . |
Demi Strong has recently returned from Disko Island, Greenland after spending 5 weeks there exploring the landscape.
A keen scientist, Demi who is 16 years old was given the opportunity to travel to the Arctic this summer with BSES (British Schools Exploring Society) to carry out scientific research for five weeks with sixty other young people from all over the country. She was awarded a grant of £1,000 from the Young People & Education Bursary Fund towards the cost of the specialist kit needed to attend the expedition to the arctic.
The expedition itself was both physically and mentally challenging, including activities such as climbing mountains, ice axing out of a crevasse, looking at some of the most beautiful scenery, walking up a glacier and camping on ice and snow. Expedition life is far from normality, from the food you eat, which has to be 4000 kcal per day, to the things you do and see.
The main purpose of the expedition was to do research work at both the science camp base and on the move as students explored the Island. Demi was able to examine vegetation in valleys where glaciers once lay to see how long ago the glaciers receded and looked at different rocks to see which direction the glaciers moved or to see if the rocks and boulders had been transported by a river or a glacier.
In addition to the research work at camp, the intrepid explorers looked at different cloud formations, valley shapes and rock layers of the mountains. They even mapped the snout of one of the few surging glaciers in the world, which at one point was moving 70m per day. Demi got in touch to let us know how she got on;
“The 5 weeks went by fast and now looking back the only word I can use to describe the expedition is amazing. Everday included something different to look at with amazement or something to do that just blows you away. "
On day 20 the group went ‘Moulin bashing’. A Moulin is a crevasse
with a river flowing into it. The students are lowered into it and then have
to use the skills they have been taught to climb back out. Demi commented,
"It was really hard but when you finally reach the top it was all worth it because you feel a great sense of achievement. It also really hurt your fingers as you scraped them across the ice but it warmed them up which was good because they’d been freezing all day!"
Demi plans to continue with her science studies later this year at Durham High School, she adds;
"The expedition itself was both physically and mentally challenging, but some how you would just find the energy and determination to carry on. From the expedition I’ve gained some fantastic memories, photographs and friends that I will no doubt treasure for the rest of my life."
