Students on Ice Blog

SOI alumnus Cason Crane recently summited Mt. Everest! He is on a mission to become the first openly gay person to climb the highest mountains on each continent (The Seven Summits). His Rainbow Summits Project is an initiative to help raise awareness and funds for the Trevor Project, which is helping LGBTQ youth get the help they need and to call attention to the important issue of LGBTQ youth suicide.

Please consider donating to help Cason achieve his fundraising goal of $250,000. Donate here: http://rainbowsummits.org/.

You can find out more about this great initiative at the links below. Way to go Cason!

http://rainbowsummits.org/
https://www.facebook.com/rainbowsummits
http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

Arctic 2013 participant Maya Burhanpurkar was recently selected as one of the
recipients of this year’s Top 20 Under 20 awards. Run by the charitable organization Youth in Motion, Top 20 Under 20 is a Canadian national awards program that reaches out to thousands of youth across the country before finalizing a list of 20 up-and-comers who embody leadership, innovation and achievement.

Maya Burhanpurkar

Maya, 13, was acknowledged for setting up a fully functioning microbiology lab in her basement at the age of 10 – after universities and research institutions told her she was too young to use theirs – where she studied the effects of antibiotics on patients and discovered new properties of an Alzheimer’s drug to protect seniors and athletes from heart attacks.

Congratulations Maya! We’re looking forward to welcoming you and all the other students participating on this summer’s Arctic Expedition!

Read more here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/top-20-under-20-recognizes-young-canadians-making-a-difference/article12376380/

SOI Alumnus Selin Jessa (Antarctica 2011) has been selected as one of this year’s recipients of TD Bank’s Scholarship for Community Leadership!

The award is worth $70,000 to each student and only 20 students were selected from the list of more than 3,000 applicants across Canada.

“We want to make sure people with this much potential can acquire the tools they need to then build important ongoing careers in leading social change in Canada,” said Jane Thompson, executive director at TD Scholarships.

Applications for the scholarship are open to Grade 11 students annually from September to early December.

More information is available on TD’s website: http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-services/banking/student-life/index.jsp

Congratulations Selin!

Students on Ice alumnus Dang Dang Gruben (Arctic 2012) has finished fourth in his first snowmobile race. Originally from Tuktoyaktuk, Gruben was competing against a tough field of experienced competitors in the 500/600 Open Country Race at the Muskrat Jamboree in Inuvik.

Click here to read the full article on Dang Dang from the April 11 edition of the Inuvik Drum or click the following link:

http://www.nnsl.com/frames/newspapers/2013-04/apr11_13sno.html

Way to go Dang Dang!