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Nordonia student earns spot at polar bear camp in northern Manitoba
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Sep 20, 2009
A Summit County teen is heading to the Canadian Arctic to learn more about polar bears and global warming.
Courtney Freyhauf, a junior at Nordonia High School, departs next weekend for Churchill on Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba.
Courtney, 16, of Macedonia, will be attending the seven-day Polar Bear International Leadership Camp.
The camp, drawing 16 students and 16 adults, is held to coincide with the famous polar bear migration that brings large numbers of the endangered polar bears to Churchill.
Polar bears are listed as a vulnerable species, because warming temperatures are increasingly melting the icy habitats where polar bears live and hunt.
The prospect of seeing polar bears up close and learning more about them is thrilling, said Courtney.
''This is a real dream come true, not just for the opportunity to see such a magnificent animal, but also because I'll have the opportunity to learn more about more ways I can make a difference on this Earth,'' she said. ''It's still sinking in. It's really exciting . . . and it's going to be a great experience.''
Courtney said she has been enthralled by the Arctic since she was a little girl.
Wolves, Siberian huskies, polar bears, Balto the famed Alaskan sled dog and the wild Arctic country ''just really appealed to me,'' she said. ''It's just so magnificent, so snowy and so beautiful. It's just something that has fascinated me.''
The camp attendees will explore the Arctic habitat in tundra buggies with large oversized wheels that can negotiate the terrain. The buggies will be hooked together to create classrooms where they will learn from scientists.
Courtney will blog about her experiences at the camp at http://www.polarbearsinternational.com (click on Student Journals from 2009). She also intends to share what she learns about polar bears in Canada and the need to protect them after she returns to Northeast Ohio.
She was selected for the camp by the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, where she is a volunteer, and the Greater Cleveland chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.
She applied in December and learned in March that she had been selected by a panel of the zoo's animal keepers and education staff.
She has been a Zoo Crew volunteer for three years. She has handled small animals and instructed zoo visitors about endangered species.
She has worked with such species as the White's tree frog, Madagascar hissing cockroach, leopard gecko, bald python, bearded dragon, along with skinks, turtles and millipedes.
The Cleveland zoo also gave Courtney a chance to observe the zoo's resident polar bear, a female named Aurora.
''To see her up close was just amazing,'' said Courtney. ''Her paws were as big as dinner plates. She is very intelligent, very graceful and very beautiful.''
Courtney, who said she intends to major in animal ecology in college, also gets her own blue goose-feather parka to stay warm while in the Arctic.
''That's pretty cool, too,'' she said.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
A Summit County teen is heading to the Canadian Arctic to learn more about polar bears and global warming.
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