Hi, I'm Michelle, and as the onboard Outreach Officer for the NW Greenland Glaciated Margin Expedition, I will be your explorer guide for the voyage ahead. I'm so glad you will be joining me on this adventure.
People sometimes ask me: How do you become an explorer? Growing up in far northern Canada I didn't even get on a plane until I was 18 years old, and I didn't ever really think of myself as an explorer. However, I absolutely LOVED reading National Geographic magazines! I read them over and over and was enthralled by the photos and stories of faraway places and people. My mom has the heart of an explorer, and she adventurously raised seven kids (I'm the oldest!). I remember us taking a big adventure trip in the van once a year, exploring places such as Yellowstone National Park, the Canadian Rockies, Lewis & Clark caverns (a bat landed on my sister's head!), and visiting lots of family members. I think my curiosity for exploring our planet was always there within me.
About 10 years ago, I got very serious about achieving my exploration goals. I went on several trips with other teachers to learn about places and people in China, India, Oman, Japan, Germany and Zanzibar. About five years ago I took a sabbatical from teaching and set a goal to reach the rest of the seven continents.
