Kaktovik Oceanography Camp

 How often do our children get up and go to school at 8:00 AM in the summer? In Kaktovik this past August that was the norm for most of our middle school and high school students. The week-long Kaktovik Oceanography Camp was successful in many aspects. The students worked hard and were at the scientist door each morning excited to learn new things. When you look the faces of the children in Kaktovik (see attached pictures) I think you will have a good idea of the degree of success of the camp.

Thank you for all of your support, in resupplying our materials and ensuring Flora Rexford, our Inupiaq teacher, was available to work so closely with the scientist. Flora added her creativity, knowledge of Inupiaq and Inupiaq cultural connections to support the science curriculum taught by Ken Dutton and Cliff Strain. She also unselfishly supplied the caribou that fed over 25 people during open house that celebrated the student’s work over the week long camp.

The chemistry and hard work of the people involved really helped elevate the quality of the oceanography camp.  The students explored many different technologies for sampling water quality, planktonic and benthic organisms, exploring food web structures in Kaktovik and tracking coastal erosion using GPS units.

This camp was possible through the combined efforts of ASRC, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Science Foundation. Thank you for providing the resources to help us support our children and extend the Inupiaq Learning Framework to our partners on during this camp.

Jim LeClair, Principal, Harold Kaveolook School