Girls on Ice
Girls on Ice is a free program run by Inspiring Girls Expeditions in which selected students do glaciology research on an alpine glacier. Each summer a team of 8-9 teenage girls and 3 instructors spend 12 days exploring and learning about glaciers and the alpine landscape or fjord with a team of professional glaciologists, ecologists, mountain guides, and artists. The girls on the team also challenge themselves and gain self-confidence in their physical, intellectual, and social abilities.
An Inspiring Girls Expedition is the science version of a “language immersion” experience – connecting science with all aspects of daily life with the goal of creating lifelong advocates for Earth science, specifically, and the scientific process as a whole, regardless of whether or not they decide to specialize in science in college. Girls with few prior opportunities for educational enrichment are given priority.
How do I get started? Just go to their website and apply.
How do I expand this narrative arc?
Think about bringing what you learned from this program back to your school, either through a club, a competition or an independent study that allows you to broaden and deepen your experience in the area.
You can also think about doing something that generally relates to science and the environment like Composting Cafeteria or Make a Trash Splash
Participate in a quick citizen science project that revolves around the environment or sustainability like The Big Microplastic Survey
Apply for a grant from the Captain Planet Foundation for your own ocean related project.
Running a “Ban the Plastic” campaign in your school or town is also a great idea. See this organization for step by step instructions on how to launch such a campaign.
HOT TIP: This is an incredibly interesting science research opportunity for a girl that is interested in biology, climate or earth science. Like most free programs, admissions requirements are more rigorous. This will be most compelling as part of a larger narrative arc that includes other extracurricular science opportunities.