Imagine spending a snowy Sunday in Fairbanks, Alaska with a group of incredibly talented, experienced, and passionate teachers. This wasn’t just any group of teachers. This particular group has been selected to be the 2011/12 PolarTREC cohort. We have come from all over the United States and from a variety of educational venues with one goal in mind; to learn the way of the PolarTREC warrior. It is a winding and twisting pathway, facilitated by the staff of PolarTREC and supplemented with sessions taught by PolarTREC teacher alumni.
Today we had an overview of the PolarTREC program, its goals and objectives, the history of the program, and what our roles will be as teacher/researchers. Over the next few days we will be learning about the technology we will be using to communicate from the field and becoming proficient at writing and posting daily journals, photos, and video. In my case, I will learn how to post my journals via satellite phone, from the wilderness of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where I will be working with a researcher from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. By the end of the week we shall all be proficient users and navigators of the PolarTREC website. The way of the PolarTREC warrior will be ours to follow. We might even learn the secret PolarTREC handshake!