I'm back, writing another entry for one and only reason ...to bring you the poem that Bill wrote about the students of the Polar Bear Science Leadership Camp 2005. I think it's very impressive and so true so I just have to post it to share it with everyone else (but the title is not true).

Really Bad Poetry About the Class of

Well, the trip is actually over for me. It's hard to believe and pretty weird not being around the same people 24/7, walking around Churchill or sticking my head out a buggy window to look down on a polar bear that's a meter away from me. It was a very emotional parting.

To continue from where I left off in my last journal entry, after the plane landed, I said goodbye to Lauren (I hope she wasn't cold) and Meagan but I know I'll see them around Winnipeg again. The rest of the group went to the Winnipeg Zoo while Telecia, Christina, and I stayed back and hung around the airport (while Telecia did some more power shopping) and watched a few movies in their hotel room. I said goodbye to Rob, Kelly, Andrew, Chris, Bill, and Mary Blake before they left for the zoo but I soon said goodbye to them second times because I hung around until after supper. They couldn't get rid of me! See how much I love all of you guys? It was nice spending the time with Telecia and Christina because I'm going to miss them so much. You live with these people for 10 days and become so close you feel like you can be your absolute self around them and share everything you feel with them. But in all of our heads the thought, "And we're never going to see them again..." kept popping up yesterday. We do, though, have a plan to visit Telecia when she graduates. After that, she's traveling to Churchill to drive a buggy (remember what a wonderful driver she is?) for the season and some of us are going to be her buggy assistants or work at Parks Canada. Of course, if I ever come to Germany, Baltimore, Portland, San Diego, Montana, Anchorage, or Churchill I am staying in all of your houses!

My last hours with the students and teachers that weren't from Canada were spent during our last dinner together. It was a nice one, not to mention the food, but also a sad one. After taking separate pictures with everyone, we went to wait outside for my ride. It was cold without a jacket on but boy is Winnipeg warm compared to Churchill! Where are the 70 km/h winds? I said goodbye, but this time I couldn't hold back the tears. Irene gave me a bag from the Koln Zoo which is really nice (thank you Irene)! A few of them chased me in my car. It was a wonderful trip, a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will never forget. I would go and relive it again and again.

Although the goodbyes have been said, and I'm guessing I won't be seeing polar bears in their natural habitat anytime soon, but this is only the beginning of our next and final assignment that will last a life time. We must all now go and educate the world about global climate change, what it is, what is causing it, and how we all can take tiny steps to prevent it from becoming more severe. I can

As I'm writing this, I'm sitting high above the clouds with almost everyone around me on the plane ride back to Winnipeg. Yesterday we woke up and began to clean the lodge. When we were finished we said farewell to what was our home for five days and took a bunch of pictures to show everyone back home. Bill thought it was quite odd when he caught me taking pictures of the bathroom but I wanted to capture every moment! Anyway, we boarded the buggy back to the launching area, seeing a couple of polar bears (the total count for the trip is 9) and a lot more buggies. As we past, the people on each buggy snapped pictures of each other. We saw the same bear with the collar and determined it was a female from its urine patch and that it was not pregnant because no female would ever create a den in the area we were in. It's kind of weird because that day was rainy, just like the first two days when we were in Churchill, so we left like we came in.

Back on the good ol' bus, Chris drew some wonderful bears on the window and the two of us and Lauren had a couple of good laughs. After checking into the Tundra Inn, we all went our separate ways to do our last minute souvenir shopping. I ran the entire length of the main street with my backpack open, so after retrieving a few things, we went for supper at the Seaport. It was very busy, almost like the gold rush (another joke of ours). At my table were Lauren, Meagan, and Telecia. It was really nice to have one last dinner with them but it also made it that much more difficult to leave. The whole crew headed to John's house where we presented our little surprise to Robert and Carolyn (our rendition of it's a beautiful morning), I read my poem, and Bill recited his poem that was written about all of the students. He's such a wonderful poet; he should get his work published! Seriously, we were all so impressed and want copies!

Back at the hotel, we recorded our final interviews with Sharon.

This morning we all went to one last huge breakfast at Gypsy's. Lauren, Telecia, and I went to say a final goodbye and thank you to the Hudson Bay Helicopters. At the airport we said our goodbyes to Adelia, Sharon, Lisa Joy, John (x 2), Robert, Merv, Kelly, and a bunch of other people. It was so sad, I was holding back tears. All of these people are so wonderful and it's extremely difficult to say goodbye. Lisa Joy, John, Lauren, Meagan, Rob, and I will definitely need to plan to get together in Winnipeg sometime in the future as well as Adelia when she comes to visit. As of now, I'm still on the plane and I'll write more later when I get home.

Since I noticed a couple of you posted your poems, I thought I would post the song and poem that I wrote as well! Here's the song we sang for Robert and Carolyn last night:

Oh what a beautiful science camp,
That brought us all together,
So we could discuss the issue,
Of changing climate and weather.

We really want to thank you,
From the bottom of our hearts,
Oh Robert and Carolyn,
It will be so hard to part.

But with saying goodbye,
We know that each one of us,
Will go home telling great stories,
About how food is a must

Oh what a beautiful morning
Oh what a beautiful day
I have a wonderful feeling
That everything's going ...MYWAY!

___________________________________________________
Here's the poem I wrote for the first polar bear poetry session!

While the sun is out,
Cozy coats of white,
Tend to yawn and stretch,
While sleeping through day and night.

Majestic some would say,
Intelligent creatures they would be,
When evil global warming takes its toll,
Beginning to take action is the key.

Sparring with a friend,
On a buggy tire,
These bears give us hope,
And a world of people to inspire.

Adelia, Meagan, Rob,
Chris, Andrew, Telecia,
Lauren, Kelly, Irene,
Lisa Joy and Christina.

John, Bill, Carolyn,
Robert, Carrie, Kelly,
Mary Blake, Megan,
Sharon and of course, Becky.

Each name that was called,
Was said in a special way,
To help preserve our polar bears,
We must begin to act today.

Thank you PBI,
For making this possible for us all,
Thank you Manitoba Conservation,
Because of you I had an absolute ball!

Today we presented the last two key elements listed in the book, "Impacts of a Warming Arctic" as if we were explaining the issues discussed to Alien Irene, who knew nothing about Earth except how to speak the English language. One of my favourite parts of the day was when the two bears were sparring during breakfast. They

Once again, I'm writing about the beautiful northern lights that we're being able to view up here on the tundra. Last night's were even more stunning then the one before. They even had a hint of red in them. I now know the meaning of the "dancing" northern lights.

Today we spent a lot more time in the lodge presenting our skits on our different assigned topics. My group was lucky enough to have thawing ground as our topic so at first it was bit of a challenge to work it into something creative, but we pulled through. Another group did a sort of a game show and we all received prizes from Australia. Another bear, Flanders, came by the camp. I enjoyed watching one of the bears trying to break the ice beneath him and we also saw another arctic fox.

Out on the day buggy, we saw four more bears. The first one started eating ice, which was really neat to listen to. We actually got to touch ground at one point so most of us collected some rocks from the tundra to take back home. We saw an arctic hare and a bear that had a collar on. The collar was once placed on the bear to help collect data on its whereabouts. Most of us believe that another tracking device should be invented that would be more convenient for the bears and humans. The most exciting part of seeing this bear is that out of the 900 bears that are found in western Hudson Bay, about 30 are actually wearing these collars, so it was a real treat.

Back at the lodge while eating supper, two of the bears came right beneath the windows. They look so cute and harmless with those big, black eyes. We all wanted to go down there and give them a big bear hug. One of the bears put his paws up on the tire so I quickly snapped a picture. Telecia also showed us part 1 of

Last night was so beautiful I just have to write about what happened after my last journal entry. The northern lights came out. They were a greenish white and at times were dancing. All of the stars are so bright out here, it's so easy to find the big dipper. This trip just keeps getting more amazing and amazing every day! Just as I begin to think that it can't get any better, it does. I feel so lucky to be able to witness these kinds of things. I also feel EXTREMELY lucky to wake up to the most wonderful alarm clock of all ...Robert's singing. "ooOOOH it's a BEAUTIFUL MORRRning, it's a beautiful dAAAY....okay"....beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

For once I'm typing my journal entry on the computer on the same day I wrote it! Living on the buggies is different, but I think it's a really neat experience. Right now the northern lights are beginning to form right before my eyes.

Today we woke up to the same male bear (have we named him Homer?) and mother (Marge) and cubs (Bart and Lisa

Today is October 4th, an absolutely wonderful day, one that will always stay clear in my mind. My first helicopter ride to and from the maternal dens was an unforgettable experience and I personally think we had the best pilot (we had a lot of fun). Taking off was neat because you were suddenly hovering in the air without having to go down a runway. The landscape was stunning; there were so many different trees and lakes (some are beginning to freeze). I was in awe the entire time and loved the sharp turns (it was difficult to lift your arms up while turning). When we arrived at the den, I stepped out on to the peat moss and lichen and immediately sunk. It was very spongy and similar to walking on snow. I went in the maternal den

It's October 3rd and today is a very special day for two reasons: it's Christina's birthday and we saw our first polar bear! Our guide and bus driver, Kelsey, took us all over and outside of the town today. Our first stop was Hudson Bay. The winds coming off the bay were unbelievable! Some of us were jumping straight up and being pushed forward a significant amount in the air. It's beautiful to watch the waves come crashing in.

Being in the Precambrian Shield, we were able to see more rock formations that were affected by glaciers while we were driving. Our second stop was an old abandoned building where experiments were performed on polar bears around the 1970's. The bears were dipped in oil and being such clean animals, they groomed themselves and most died. I think it's a really sad thing and the building definitely creeped me out. The floor was covered in a sort of saw dust and there were different types of cages all over. We found a cabinet full of different jars, bird bones, mouse traps, and other miscellaneous things. There was a vile of polar bear blood on a window sill. It was a very eerie place.

On the way to the old Churchill dump we saw our first polar bear which we think was a sub-adult (which is also our new nickname). It was an amazing experience. At first I couldn't spot the bear but after I crammed my head out the window I found it. We saw D-20 (the Polar Bear Compound) and discussed the issue about a local man breeding Canadian Huskies and how it is affecting the bears and people of Churchill.

We also went to Kelsey's house (in Camp Nanuk) and he showed us a board with nails sticking out of it which is placed on doors, an attempt to keep the bears out. We toured around the Churchill Northern Study Center and headed to Parks Canada to play "Survivor" and learn about the process of transporting bears north of the city from two Manitoba Conservation officers.

It's October 2nd, my first day ever in Churchill! It's still hard to believe we are truly here. We boarded the plane in Winnipeg this morning, which was pretty small but cozy. It felt more like a bus to me. I had the most fun taking off and experiencing turbulence now and then. I guess that's not very common for most people, but it felt like a roller coaster ride. It was a weird but an exciting experience flying through and above the clouds.

The plane ride went by really fast (it was about two hours). When we were landing there was such a spectacular view outside my window! Orange and green trees were scattered everywhere and there was tons of, I guess you would say, ponds. We were flying pretty low. It was quite a change from the prairies and farmland back home.

The airport in Churchill is small. One floor, one room. We ended up playing the card game, Cheat, on the floor, something I don't think Telecia and Christina have played before, but they caught on pretty quickly. I hope they teach us some new card games while we're out on the buggies!

Adelia was our tour guide for today and she took us to a building that had just about everything from a pool and gymnasium, to a playground. I saw Hudson Bay! It was amazing and I think we'll be returning tomorrow. After going to a store just around the corner, we went for dinner where we had a few, or more, laughs.

It was great getting to know everyone so much more today. Despite the blowing winds and rain, Churchill is great and I can't wait to explore the town more thoroughly tomorrow! We may even be lucky and spot our first polar bear! I'm pretty sure we'll be going to visit some Canadian Huskies, which I'm looking forward to.

I also just wanted to add a note thanking my science teacher, Mr. Boyko for all of the support and encouragement he gave me during the creation of my science fair project last year, which helped get me where I am today. This is a truly amazing experience and I just wanted to say thanks!

Hi Everyone!

Well, my trip has officially started, it

It still hasn't hit me yet that tomorrow the camp begins! I've been so busy with all of the homework, chemistry test, and physics test I had this week that I haven't been able to post any journal entries. I'm finally packed and am so excited to meet all of you tomorrow!