[Webinar] National Geographic Student Travel Meet the Expert: M Jackson
Okay all right welcome everybody we are just getting ready to go for our our slideshow for this afternoon thank you so much for joining us um today we’re going to talk briefly about our National Geographic student travel programs that are available for summer 2024 um I am
Going to start and I’m going to share a little bit about the types of programs we have and the different on assignments that students can choose to focus on but then we’re going to do an especially deep dive into our programs in Iceland and I am thrilled to welcome National
Geographic Explorer M Jackson to share a bit more about her experience as an Explorer and as an expert on these student programs but first let me introduce myself my name is Hannah gilkinson I am one of the directors here at National Geographic student travel I have been designing and leading programs
For the past 15 years my background is in wildlife biology and I’ve helped to develop many of our programs that have a focus on wildlife conservation and science so in a little bit I’m going to welcome my colleague John Lindsley to join us and he’s going to share a little
Bit more about the Iceland itinerary and what students can expect on the exploration Iceland program this year we’re going to be happy to answer any questions you have so do feel free to put those in the Q&A box down below and either we’ll answer them in the chat or
I’ll answer them live at the end of the webinar and you can always call us if you want to ask specific questions unique to your circumstances or learn about any of our other programs um but please also know that we will record this and send it out to everybody who’s
Registered for the webinar today so if you’d like to share it with anyone else um you can do so at that time so the National Geographic student travel programs are unique educational opportunities that allow students to explore and learn while connecting to the missions of the National Geographic
Society the Society of course is a nonprofit organization that is committed to using the power of science exploration education and storytelling to illuminate and protect the Wonder of our world these programs provide an opportunity for students to get out into the field with National Geographic explorers and to engage with their
Surroundings as they learn the skills and explore the fields such as photography conservation science geology engineering and technology and storytelling and our hope is that students return home from these programs with an Explorer mindset curious and inspired and ready to observe and engage with the world around them and also with
A real sense of responsibility and respect for other people cultures and the natural world this summer we are offering a couple of different program types for high school students in 2024 um that would be the exploration exploration programs University workshops and our photo workshops and for summer 2024 we’re also
Offering exploration programs for middle school students as well so I’m just going to briefly run through these different program types so you have a sense for what to expect the high school programs are designed for students who are completing 9th through 12th grade or the equivalent the exploration category
Is our largest category it has eight eight programs in it in eight destinations and their traveling programs these are smaller programs generally with 16 to sometimes 24 students and two to three leaders plus the National Geographic Explorer when students apply for an exploration program they’re asked to pick a specific
On assignment focus and each exploration program offers two different on assignments to choose from photography climate science wildlife conservation and anthropology culture and tradition are the four um On Assignment projects that exploration programs have so students can expect to spend part of their day with their On Assignment group
And part of the day participating in whole group activities the university Workshop is based in Cambridge on the campus of MIT and it focuses on technology engineering and Robotics now this is a larger program of around 50 students and six to eight leaders plus an Explorer and throughout the program we visit Labs
Participate in workshops and look at how explorers and researchers at MIT and across Cambridge are using Cutting Edge technology to address imp issues impacting the world students are then challenged to consider issues in their own communities and taking what they’ve learned and discussed during the program develop a final project that could
Address the problem the photography workshops are offered in Yellowstone and these are intensive photo workshops where students get into the field daily with their trip leaders and the National Geographic photography expert learning everything from composition and technique and storytelling with an emphasis on editing as well and there’ll
Be a final gallery opening with images which is open to friends and family who are able to come as well as the public our middle school programs we have them in Iceland and Italy and Greece this year and on those programs students don’t choose a single on assignment
Focus but they rotate through learning about the different themes and these are highly structured programs open to seventh and eth grade students or the equipment so if we could just pause on this slide um I could talk a little bit quickly about the themes that I just
Briefly discussed so um the themes um is really the lens through which students explore the destination that they’re in and all students are working towards final projects but I want to emphasize that this is really a journey of exploration and learning um and the projects can take many different forms
It could be a photo gallery or presentation of best images if you’re a photography student or a short written piece or a field Journal presentation by the wildlife conservation students and it’s really a chance to get creative it’s not meant to be a high press event
But really a chance to dive into a question that you’re curious about that you want to know the answer to and then learn and share back with the rest of the group and with your friends and family back home what you’ve taken away from that each On Assignment will have
Its own trip leader that’s dedicated to teaching students in that on assignment um and working with students on those projects and the Explorers the National Geographic explorers they work with all of the students regardless of the On Assignment Focus so I do want to say that we often have students that can’t
Decide between a non-assignment focus don’t know what they want to do so give us a call and we’re happy to help you with that um the anthropology culture and tradition is offered in Norway Japan Costa Rica and Thailand as well as our Middle School Italy Greece and then the
Climate and geology is on our Iceland programs exclusively innovation technology and Robotics is unique to MIT and photography is offered on all of our different um programs and it’s the sole focus of the photography Workshop the wildlife conservation is offered in Ecuador Namibia and the Canadian Arctic
Program so that is just a brief overview of all of our different programs and types of programs and what to expect so um now I want to pass it over to my colleague John um who’s going to talk a little bit more in depth about our
Program in Iceland um and and I’ll let John take it away from here great thanks so much Hannah and thanks again everybody for tuning in today to learn more about our National Geographic student travel program in Iceland and also to meet our Iceland program expert
Dr M Jackson my name is John Lindley um I am a program director with Nat geost student travel I organize our programs in Iceland both our high school exploration progr program and also our middle school program which Hannah mentioned I also direct our high school program in Namibia so Iceland’s one of
My favorite destinations to travel and explore and I’m excited to share more about it with you today we have two departures of Iceland uh this summer it’s a 14-day program we travel counterclockwise uh around the country’s Ring Road beginning and ending in ruic um travel by private shuttle bus and we
Use 4×4 vehicles for accessing some hikes and other activities along the way we typically spend a couple of days in each stop we make as we go around the country as far as accommodations are concerned small family guest houses ins and hosts and while we’re outside for
Most of each day we do not camp on this program it’s a question that parents and students often ask um um the program explores Iceland’s just incredible landscape so from waterfalls geothermal pools to Glaciers lava tunnels bubbling mud pots you name it the Sea Coast all while learning about your chosen On
Assignment whether that be photography or climate and geology and something that I just think is really special is that in addition to the program leaders for this uh trip um who themselves are experts and professionals in their own right were joined in the field by our National Geographic expert as well alongside
Icelandic glaciologists ecologists naturalists and Adventure guides um and other local experts along the way and and this really just enriches the program experience for students especially as they dive into their On Assignment Focus so getting into some photos now um I mentioned we begin and end in ruic and that bottom leand shot
There um you know is a photo of hogm scourge so this is a church in central ruic it’s one of the tallest structures in all of Iceland um and it’s inspired by the country’s Landscapes especially the image of cooling lava um and some of the impressive Basalt columns which
We’ll see on the islands uh South Coast um while we’re in ruic is well we really get to set out on foot and explore the capital city where most icelanders live it’s a cultural Hub it’s full of incredible museums and historical sites a great Harbor front for walking cafes
Um other eateries and things like that so it’s a really um good sort of hub for us uh to begin and end the the the program um in the bottom right hand corner there um is a picture of the Blue Lagoon so we have a chance to soak in a
Number of thermal baths um on this program and it’s always a highlight for students it’s also a common practice amongst icelanders and we do head there first so right after landing in ruic um we head to the Blue Lagoon uh for a dip to relax get to know each other um
That’s one of the country’s bigger pools um quite famous but when we’re in towns as we make our way around the country and smaller communities we’ll get the chance to go to some of the smaller community swimming spots um outside of Ricky viic too I should mention uh we
Also get to visit um one of the geothermal power stations that supp as much of the city’s energy top left photo there is a group um out on Horseback in in iands North so um here we get to explore the Rolling Hills and Sheet pastures um along a fjord outside of
Aeri um and our guides there uh will share their family’s history in the area um and their work with horses and other Liv stock um we’ll also go on a whale watching uh trip there in a traditional Icelandic Oak boat um in the top right
Hand of the screen here is a photo of a village of turf farmhouses and this is in that same area in the north um a settlement here which dates back to Iceland’s earliest days um now open to the public as a museum and then the middle pick there of course is a
Waterfall and waterfalls are abundant in Iceland and our itinerary takes us to many of them often on foot hiking uh each has its own characteristics um as I’ve traveled there on you know myself I’m always amazed um each one’s unique uh not to mention that they look
Different depending on the time of day and the water levels and everything when you’re when you’re visiting on to the next slide um we’ve got some uh more images here in the top right uh is a photo um actually of our expert M Jackson who will be speaking in a few
Minutes um with students on the shores of JAL ston in Iceland’s Southeast um this is a glacier Lagoon a lake in fact that’s filled with melt water from an outlet Glacier that we also Trek on that extends off of Europe’s largest ice cap um down in the bottom right so in
Addition to trekking on the glacier we also get to try a bit of ice climbing with our professional Icelandic Glacier guides and our Glacier day is always a highlight for students at the end of the summer we um hear uh from students um just how you know meaningful and
Impactful um that experience was for them and just as an example of how we engage with our o themes while out on the glacier our photo students might focus on an aspect of Photography given the unique surface and lighting conditions up on the ice while our climate and geology students might be
With a local glaciologist examining recent signs or evidence of glacial recession bottom left bottom center and top right here uh Iceland’s famous for its geologic and geothermal features so whether it’s exploring a canyon on a hike to a waterfall or walking P geysers um steam vents mud pots are
Photographing Seaside Cliffs and rock formations near Deek on the island South Coast that’s that top right photo there um with the church uh or in Iceland’s north um we have the opportunity to go uh into an ice cave in the permafrost to view ice formations formed over many
Years so whatever it may be we get um to experience uh these sites those very sites that just make um you know Iceland such an iconic destination up close and I I just wanted to put in here to a quick plug for our Middle School Iceland program um that’s a program specifically
Designed for students completing seventh and eighth grades it’s a day or two shorter than the high school program that I just spoke about um and follows a different itinerary focusing on ruic um a peninsula just to the north and west of riic called selness um as well as
Visiting the Golden Circle in the South Coast um offers middle schoolers a great introduction to photography and geology and climate science along with plenty of Adventure and so if that program is of interest to any attendees here today I’m happy to speak more about that um and
Overall I I hope that was um helpful uh summary of of this really incredible program um reach out to us anytime to ask questions about Iceland or any of our other programs for summer 2024 I’m always happy to have individual conversations with students and parents um about their interests and with that
Said um it’s my pleasure now to introduce Dr M Jackson um m is a geographer glaciologist National Geographic Explorer and T fellow and will be the expert on the first departure of this Summer’s National Geographic student travel exploration program in Iceland I’ll let mem tell you more about her many accomplishments
We’re thrilled to have her with us today welcome mem thank you thanks so much um John that was just a really nice introduction I really appreciate that um you know when the geographic reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to talk for this webinar
I was like absolutely it doesn’t matter the time or the place um I believe wholeheartedly in this program um I feel like I’m constantly talking about National Geographic student travel I’m constantly talking to parents teenagers communities about the opportunities that can be presented with a program like this I think I’ve been
With with the geographic since about 2010 2011 somewhere in there let’s just discount how many decades that might have been so long ago um but I’ve really stayed with it each year because I feel like I’ve had a front seat watching this program change students lives um I’ve
Gotten to see students come in who are curious about a place or about learning a new skill in photography or a new skill in science and they come out with this strong connectivity to colleagues and networks and friends that grows with them uh for the months and the years
After a program like this I see students come out with new questions and new complexities uh new senses of who they are and where they’re going and for me this is one of the strong aspects of this program and I’m really proud of
Being a part of it and my role in it so what I do for the uh a program like this is I get to be the expert I get to step in for a small part of a trip like this maybe just a couple of days I get to
Interact with students I get to teach them everything I know and then step out and that means in just a couple days I’ve got to teach them everything about Iceland everything about glaciers because broadly I’m a geographer and a glaciologist and my work that I’ve been doing for decades centers on trying to
Understand glaciers and protect them worldwide um I get to really within that larger scope teach students about all the different work that intersects with this career as a glaciologist so as the images on the screen show I’m also a Ted fellow and a public speaker so I spent a lot of time
Trying to figure out how to communicate science effectively and I get to help students on these programs do that and then for the other picture I love this because I get to spend a lot of time working in film and television I do a lot of science Consulting science
Hosting and so I work with students on not only what stories they’re going to tell but what stories they’re receiving so what they see in television series or on the Internet or social media how they can unpack that and this image is great because right now uh on your screen I’m
In a purple jacket on the image on the right and I’m doing some show talking about something cold in the air tick but I happen to be filming in LA and there’s a heat dome in La when I was filming so my feet are actually in a bucket of ice
Water as I’m trying to pretend I’m somewhere cold while I’m somewhere hot so how we unpack these realities I’m also uh a climate and energy host for crash course so I get to make science accessible and then focus on how to make science transferable and this is the
Skill I get to to teach students who come out on programs right the metrics we use is can I teach a student something about science and then can they take what they’re learning what I’m teaching and teach it themselves that’s a huge part of what I get to do so I’m
Also an Explorer for the National Geographic um which means I have had the privilege of working from all seven continents over the last oh probably two decades and if you look on the image on the left I guarantee you Glacier work always looks exactly like it does right
Now so it’s always that Sunny that green um none of that is true but what is true is that I get to spend a lot of time in a tent and that means I’ve had to figure out how to deal with a lot of my downtime and so part of that involves
For the last couple years I’ve gotten to do my own On Assignment projects I’ve gotten the opportunity to write books and just like we teach to students I’ve gotten a chance to try different things different ways of telling stories one of those includes different genres I’ve had
The opportunity to write a memoir to do non-fiction I just recently wrote a novel and for all of the parents out there that are constantly telling their their kids to get off their phones I will out myself right now I always look like I’m on my phone and that’s because
I’ve written most of my books out in the field on my phone uh one of the things things I really work with students to think about is not how to use this just to kind of fill your time but rather how do you use your tools to tell stories and to
Connect it shows that technological issues don’t happen only when you’re in the field that is one of the lovely things Hannah that I’ve always enjoyed and also one of the things I get to teach students is that everywhere I go the field I try to bring extra pieces of Technology because inevitably something
Is going to fail but also one things I love is that we all know that and so it’s not a point of anxiety and it’s not a point of panic we just have to own hold on a minute my technology isn’t working and we’ll move on from there
Yeah some of the best moments I’ve had in the field have been in completely unscripted and unanticipated situations where you know you’re forced to be in the moment and either problem solve or be observant or um you know just enjoy what you can about that actual moment um I remember being
Trapped in a a rainstorm with a bunch of students and we were on our way to a swimming hole but instead We just hunkered underneath an awning of a small you know place where we were and gave our appreciations for how unique an opportunity it was for us to be in a
Rainstorm in Ecuador so it is true you need to take advantage of these and I appreciate the chance to just Bas with you so absolutely um I think the one that I’m famous for at the geographic that still makes me cringe is was in Antarctica and had had my iPad and my uh
My iPhone and I got really excited right at the beginning of a trip and so we were leaning over the edge of the ship to look at these icebergs and you can hear the crackle so icebergs as they start to melt they release the air that they’ve had trapped for hundreds and
Thousands of years and you could hear it you could smell it it’s this incredible thing but I got so excited there went all my technology over the board uh into the water and there was a moment I’ll own it when I was like oh I’ll jump into
The South Atlantic and get my GE um I did not do that so I lived but none of my technology did and it was an incredible trip because I had to Pivot and then spend the next couple of weeks with no technology because I’d lost it all in that moment it was
Awful well nice forced Tech fast I suppose so one of the things that I I reflect on as being an Explorer for the National Geographic Society is that when I was the age the teenage age of many of the students who come through this program I had spent a lot of my
Childhood reading National Geographic Magazines but it was never something that I thought I would be a part of I grew up really remote pretty disadvantaged and I just kind of self selected myself out of all of these different options and on my desk here I keep this old picture that’s about over
A hundred years years old of the founding members of the National Geographic society and it’s an old picture of all the members and the were standing on the stoop of what is still today the National Geographic headquarters and all these people wanted to do at that time over a hundred years
Ago was build a club that diffused Geographic knowledge they thought that Geographic literacy was incredibly important and they went on to build the National Geographic society as we know it today which is for me always been this place that was um almost Elite um somewhere that I didn’t even think that
I would belong and yet if we can skip forward in a slide the National Geographic has changed so much today uh first off there’s now women in the club which I’m completely for but today while the National Geographic is still trying to diffuse Geographic knowledge and still trying to increase the geographic
Literacy of people worldwide my fellow explorers and I the people you see on the screen right now what brings us all together is that we’re Guided by this belief that with knowing comes caring and with caring comes hope today everyone on the screen right now believes that if we want the
World to be a better place we have to start teaching about it we have to start helping one another find a meaningful connection to every place on this planet and everyone who also lives here and for me a great step in that direction especially for young people is National
Geographic student travel if we can skip forward yep skip forward one more um I’ve had the opportunity to work with students and adults on many of the Geographics programs we I’ve gone all over the Arctic Antarctica Africa Asia North America and I get to be with people who want to have a better
Connection with our planet who want to do boots on the ground learn about places learn about stories but I’ll out myself right now my favorite place my favorite program if we can skip one slide um is Iceland and this is my favorite place my favorite program in all of the naal
Geographic student travel for years I’ve been working across to Iceland but mainly down on the south coast so Iceland’s this interesting place if you’re a glaciologist it has over 400 glaciers total 269 of them are named for over the last Thousand Years names that go all the way back to settlement but
Glaciers here like glaciers worldwide are melting at rates we have never before experienced in human history and so local glaciology models are predicting that most glaciers here are going to lose present volume um probably 25 to 35% % over the next 50 years slide please but I can rattle off numbers like
That to you but what do you do with them and how do you make a story about them how does glacier Mount Glacier loss Glacier change impact people communities people living in North America people living in Asia how does what is happening in Iceland connect worldwide for students who come out on
This program with me and Iceland these are the things they have to start thinking about these are the things we’ve got to unpack and critically once we’ve unpacked them and connected them we have to think about how we’re going to tell the story next slide please on the screen right now is one
Example of how that story can be told so you’re looking at a place in Iceland called Yoko Saron and this is one students’s work through photography trying to explain a UNESCO world heritage site where people from all over the world converge in this one rare spot to watch Iceland’s third
Largest glacier dissolve away in front of us you can literally watch bits of this Glacier break off travel through and dissolve away how do you tell that story how do you share the emotion and an experience and for one student the images you see on the screen right now
That’s how they told this story next slide please um what I try to get students to think about is that to me glaciers make visible things that can appear abstract like senses of identity things like spiritual cultural values and economies and safety and sense of the future glaciers make visible stories
Climate change human history all of these complex things next slide please but I can take the word glacier out of the sentence I just said and I can put in different things I can replace it with oceans volcanoes Parks trees anything that is student is interested
In I am fascinated by ice but that doesn’t mean students have to be but what I do want them to be is fascinated by something learn about something and advocate for it I want them to think about how they can find themselves in these larger stories that we tell and
Then share them with one another next slide please for years I have been watching students come into this program uh and often they come in already certain of the photography they’re going to do the science skill they’re going to learn um they have that beautiful certainty of
Being a student of being a a young person um but then I watched them interact with some of these incredible leaders who teach them science telling skills storytelling skills different ways to basically approach everything and think critically I watch these students learn from local icelanders learn from the landscape the volcanoes
The glaciers I watch them learn from one another and collaborate and build and they come out telling entirely new stories uh next slide please this is another story that a student told on one of my trips that I think is incredibly impressive and one of the students um
They did a project focused on how we tell the story of glaciers and Glacier visualization and one of the things the student had noted is that often we have pictures of ice and then that connects to pictures of ocean and seas rising and so we have that connection in that
Really dominant Story the oceans are sorry the Glaciers are melting and the seas are rising but this student wanted to trouble that narrative a little bit and they did that with this image on the screen right now right so they talked about how in Iceland because the Glaciers are melting it’s actually
Making the land the physical land mass of the island rise up and it’s rising faster than the Seas so in the image on the screen right now as opposed to a narrative where an ocean comes in and floods a village you’re looking at the Village of hup and a lot of that green
And sediment looking land is brand new land it’s rising out of the ocean and this student wanted to tell a more complex and more nuanced version of what change can look like uh next slide please this is the highlight of my year as a scientist is going out with all of
These students and figuring out different ways to interact with the landscape different ways to tell a story I get to hop in and know them for one brief moment but then I get to follow them in the in the weeks and the months and the years after as they take these
New stories these new skills these new senses of self that they get from this program and they apply it to school projects and college applications and job applications and they get to apply it to the decisions they have to make for internships and career and travel
And life and for me I’ve watched since 2010 2011 students become really active changemakers because of what they’ve learned on this program so for me it’s an incredible honor and it gives me a lot of Hope um for all of us and for this planet that we’re all participating
In so I’ll stop there because I have no idea what time it is and um we’ll just go for any questions or anything else Hannah you want to jump in here with sure thank you em um I thank you everybody um em and everybody for bearing with us during the technical
Difficulties um but I just want to say I’ve had a lot of privilege of traveling to various places both with students um and you know uh in other work that I’ve done and every time I hear from John and um talk about uh Iceland it’s it kicks
Me that I’m not I haven’t had a chance to go there yet it does seem like absolutely such an amazing place and um I know every student that goes out into the field with you is just fortunate and um you know I’m so grateful that you’re
Part of this uh today but then also this summer and as you have been for for years so um thank you for that um I am just gonna really quickly talk about I’m I’m glad em mentioned our leaders uh uh because our leaders are absolutely incredible um and important part of what
We do on these programs as well they are there throughout the program um I mentioned before they’re helping students with their un assignment projects they’re overseeing everything from health and safety to group dynamics helping with travel issues that may come up on the program so really an incredible core experience of the
Community and the program that we’re creating here um and I just wanted to quickly highlight I encourage you to go to our website and read the bios of all of our leaders who’ve traveled with us the past summers many come back year after year um but also to read the BIOS
And and some more history about our explorers that join us as well but just really quickly here we have four of our leaders they’ve been with us for a number of sum Su is Alex Silva um on the left there she has been uh taking students into the field with us since
2009 she’s an educator she’s worked with middle schoolers to college students and she can do everything from work with camera traps to teach about coral reation so she’s absolutely incredible grateful to have her with us every summer Leonardo kizo is one of our photography instructors uh he’s a multimedia journalism professor at the
Ohio State University and he’s been with us since 2015 Mariela vonos is is um she’s from Brazil she’s a passionate traveler and educator and dive instructor who’s traveled with us in a number of our destinations in South and Central America um her PhD research focuses on uh some overlooked uh
Tropical diseases um as well as cellular and molecular biology um and William Lou on the right there has been with us since 2011 leading programs all throughout uh Scandinavia Europe um and Asia primarily but he’s an incredible photographer and filmmaker who um you know leads our students every summer as
They learn you know their voice and storytelling and learn about the technical skills of Photography so please go to the website and see more bios of all of our trip leaders and our explorers really quickly here are all of our different destinations that we go to
Um so if you see any on here I think everybody at this point probably wants to go to Iceland but if you’re also interested in any of these other destinations please give us a call John um coordinates our Iceland program as well as our Namibia program um we have
People here in the office that are happy to answer any questions that you might have about any of these destinations and really quickly I’ll just mention our application process so we are accepting applications it’s rolling admissions process so we try to keep it as quick and simple as as it we
Can but we do want to know that you know these these programs are the right fit and that you’re excited to join us for the right reasons so we ask for short online application of basic information um once we have that uh you’ll be asked
To put down a deposit there is a deposit $700 a $500 to deposit and a $200 application fee and that will hold space in the program that is your first choice if there’s space as well as the on assignment that you’ve chosen for this program um and once we have that in your
Spaces held we’ll ask you for a short personal statement and we’re not looking at your grammar or it’s not a college essay but we do want to know why you want to go on this program what it is you’re interested in what you’re curious about you know what excites you about
This and that’s really helpful for our admissions team here to read but it’s also really helpful for the experts and for the leaders on the program to read and get to know what it is that inspires you what it is that you’re curious about and um so that they’re prepared to greet
You and your Curiosities when you get on the program we also ask for two references uh these are they could be Educators coaches mentors people that know you working with peers working you know maybe outside of your comfort zone and can Envision you on a program such
As this um that’s really helpful to get their uh their feedback we’ll ask you for two email addresses and we’ll send them off a quick form um and then once we have all of those our admissions team can make a decision pretty quickly and once you’re fully accepted into the
Program you get access to what we call the digital Locker which is your One-Stop shop online resource for packing list travel information the bio for your experts and for your leaders um everything you need to know about your program is going to be there I’ll end actually with a quote
From Dr M Jackson um about these programs and just to end to say that these programs they’re fun they are life-changing opportunities um or for students to learn from experts and guides who are absolute leaders and innovators in their fields and one goal of these programs which you know was
Touched on um by Dr Jackson is to empower students with the skills and the tool sets to really become leaders in their communities and that’s definitely something we’ve seen over the years um here you know with National Geographic student programs so um we strive to bring together students who are really
Share that Curiosity for the world and then let that Curiosity build build upon itself during the course of the program and we really emphasize Community throughout the course of the experience as well we emphasize community inclusivity and a positive group dynamic as core pieces of what we’re trying to do in the student
Programs um I also wanted to quickly mention that we do offer scholarships for students who might not otherwise be able to attend and you can definitely see our website we are accepting applications the deadline is the 24th of February I would encourage you to take a
Look and if you’re um if if this is something that you’re qualified for then I AB would encourage you to apply for that as well but other than that we are here um for any questions that might come up and John do you know if there’s any questions that are still outstanding
That I could answer at this point or maybe for for M Hannah I think uh all of the questions at this stage have been answered great but I would just I would just add on to that um you know we take a lot of pride in being available to
Students and parents and families and so um we’re always happy to have conversations as people are um exploring different summer plans and options and when you give us a call you’ll actually be able to speak with the very person who’s um personally organizing that program for the summer so reach out with
Anything email phone we’re always here yeah we love to talk about these programs and find the right fit for for you so um as John said give us a call and um we hope to see some of you out in the field this summer so thank you
Join us for a conversation with geographer, glaciologist, and National Geographic Explorer M Jackson, who will join students this summer on our Iceland program. M has worked in Iceland for over a decade, completed three Fulbright grants studying how climate change is affecting communities near the fishing village of Höfn, and written several books about climate science.
Hear about M’s experience, expertise, and why she enjoys working with students.
*Parts of this conversation were edited as we experienced technical difficulties.
View all programs at natgeostudenttravel.org