The Barometer Online

Issue date: 1/16/09 Section: News

Over winter break, 15 OSU students embarked on a trip to Antarctica as part of a class given by Michael Harte, professor for the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences.

The expedition lasted about two and a half weeks and included students from various majors, not all from the science field.

Harte said part of the fun was taking students from different educational backgrounds and seeing how each one experienced the continent.

"For me, it was seeing the students in awe of what they were seeing for the first time," Harte said.

The students spent their time on the Antarctic Peninsula during the austral summer. This made for fairer conditions on their trip so students were not required to provide a lot of expensive equipment.

This was good news, since the cost of the experience is not cheap, running around $8,000 for undergraduate students.

However, Harte explained that it was such a great experience that nobody on the trip complained about the cost.

"I was amazed with how creative students were in coming up with the money," Harte said.

Before the trip, all students were required to take a 15-week eCampus course that taught about the history and environment of Antarctica, specifically human impact on the continent. Harte explained that the trip was meant to expose the students firsthand to what they had learned in the class.

"The only thing I could say was everyone had a life-changing experience," said Luke Wenker, a senior in psychology at OSU.

Wenker explained that he had always wanted to study abroad, but could never find time around work, so he was excited when the opportunity came up to go to Antarctica for winter break.

The group all gathered first in Miami and then flew to Argentina at the tip of South America. They spent two days in Argentina before taking a boat over the Drake Passage, which is said to have some of the roughest waters in the world.

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