I really wanted to do a worthy project to finish up my dedication to the program and started to think about ways I could do that. In November, I emailed a few local organizations to see if they wanted to work with me on a service project. One of the organizations I reached out to was the Churchill Northern Studies Centre as I am really passionate about future research being done in the Arctic. As luck would have it - I received a response from the centre that they were in need for some aide in rejuvenating their cold-water marine tank in order to help educate the public on species found in the north. Churchill Northern Studies Centre is an independent, non-profit field station focused on research and education in the subarctic. They are located 23 km east of the town of Churchill, Manitoba. They provide accommodations, meals, equipment rentals and logistical support to scientific and social researchers working on a diverse range of topics in the north. They also facilitate learning programs throughout the year for non-credit learning vacations, university credit courses and youth programming. Read more about the Centre on their website: https://churchillscience.ca/ The project proposal: CNSC is looking to upgrade their cold-water marine tank. They have used it in the past (since 2014) to showcase marine life found and captured in the Hudson Bay to the visitors that come to the centre. After six years the tank broke down and they are looking for funding to be able to repair the tank so that they can continue to use it in their education program. The tank has served many residents of the town of Churchill, educating the public and visiting northern school groups. "The continuation of the Hudson Bay Marine Tank will benefit the community by increasing knowledge and awareness of coastal marine ecosystems and the species they contain" (Jordan Stewart, CNSC). For some of the people that visit this tank was the only interaction they have had with the ocean and to see what is found below the ice. They were also asking for ideas to be able to reach the public virtually by creating online webinars, educational programs and videos. Now, 3 1/2 months later, after weekly meetings and constant planning everything is all done! The funding has gone through and the tank pieces are being shipped to Churchill as I write this. We also included new technology such as cameras, microphones, go-pros, etc. for the Centre to use to create some amazing videos and educational programming. I had the honor of virtually meeting some team members from the Vancouver Aquarium to discuss what they do for their virtual programming to get some ideas on what to provide in terms of technology for CNSC. We are also making arrangements for boat rentals for the centre to be able to collect the specimen for the tank. My team members worked hard on creating new fact sheets that CNSC can use for the speciment that will be collected and finally I hired and worked with a local artist by the name of Angie Gauthier to create some fun and educational colouring pages for the younger audiences. I am so pleased to have worked with the Churchill Northern Studies Centre. This project was fun to work on and I am just so excited for all the future possibilities that this opens up for the Centre. With the Covid pandemic everyone is struggling to make ends meet and for non-profit organizations like this one they really could use the help. People are not able to visit at the moment and they have this beautiful educational building that is missing the people to fill it up. Donations would also be appreciated right now. Take a look at their website and I promise you will love what you see (https://churchillscience.ca) Thank you so much Ocean Bridge and Ocean Wise for providing the funding for this amazing project and for giving me the opportunity to help provide ocean awareness and literacy in different ways throughout this past year. http://www.kjdexplore.com/urban_journey_project.html

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