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Over 4,000 miles away, inside the Arctic Circle and under the northern lights, Pennie Nichol and Kennedy Dechant experienced the field trip of a lifetime.
The Environmental Sustainability majors from the University of Northern Colorado’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences spent about a week, from Jan. 28– Feb. 6, in Tromsø, Norway. They were the only two Americans attending the Student Forum at Arctic Frontiers, an annual international conference that brings together scientists, businesses, policymakers and representatives of local and indigenous peoples for holistic discussions about the future of the Arctic region.
For two students already passionate about the environment, the trip was an exciting opportunity to work side-by-side with Norwegian students and citizens to better understand climate issues in the Arctic, an area of the world where climate change is more pronounced as temperatures are rising at four times the global annual average.
The field experience was made possible as an extension of Geography Professor Karen Barton’s 2022 Fulbright Hays fellowship to Norway, funded by the Norwegian Fulbright Commission and the U.S. Department of Education, to research the relationship between the government’s expansion of renewable energy plants on land owned by the far northern indigenous Sami community. Barton planned to return to Norway to finish her research this spring and realized her trip coincided with the annual Arctic Frontiers conference. She seized the opportunity to stretch her Fulbright funding to provide a hands-on learning and travel experience for Nichol and Dechant.
“When I told the organizers of the Arctic Frontiers conference I was bringing students, they generously offered to include them in the European-Union sponsored Student Forum where Pennie and Kennedy were able to work on problem-based learning activities and participate in the conference with other Scandinavian scholars for the week,” said Barton.
“It was a very exciting example of how so much of life is about building relationships with partners around the globe and how you can leverage small grants to build a fieldwork program.”
Nichol and Dechant spent their time in Tromsø attending big picture talks and poster sessions, networking and touring the area. They were also put to work, collaborating with Finnish and Norwegian students to brainstorm and present solutions to issues affecting their daily lives.
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