The Polar Academy: growing in confidence

Craig Mathieson FRSGS, RSGS Explorer-in-Residence

As with most charities, trying to work through a global pandemic was extremely challenging. The fact we work with lots of young people with mental health issues made our job even more difficult, as we couldn’t physically be there for them for long periods of time. However, I made the decision right at the very start of the pandemic that the Polar Academy would not waiver in our pursuit to help the struggling children and families we work with and come out of the global challenge even stronger than before.

Therefore, instead of listening to all the frenzy of negative media comments and political double standards going on, we (Lorna Craig and I) worked the hardest two years of our lives. Every day we contacted businesses and individuals around the world for support, at the same time as continuing with the training of the children we were working with from Bell Baxter School in Cupar – albeit via the dreaded Zoom!

In the summer of 2021, whilst we still couldn’t take our team to Greenland due to the global flight ban, Scotland itself was slowly beginning to open up. We therefore decided to run an expedition within Scotland which would be just as challenging as the Arctic. The expedition was planned in three phases.

Phase 1: By Sea – Rowing a Scottish birlinn (same as a Viking longboat but with a central rudder) 60 miles through the Great Glen from Fort William to Inverness; five days travel and 60 miles covered.

Phase 2: By Land – Walking from Forres, following the Dava Way to the Glenmore Lodge, the place where it all began for these children two years before; two-and-a-half days travel and 40 miles covered.

Phase 3: By Air – Waiting for them at the Glenmore Lodge was a helicopter to fly them all home, generously supplied free of charge by one our fantastic Patrons; 20 minutes travel and 117 miles covered!

This was a perfect end to a very special expedition with extraordinary children.

As this was all going on, we had made the decision to double the size of the Polar Academy, now working with two schools at once. The schools chosen were Stranraer Academy and Bo’ness Academy. Again working through all the restrictions and ever-changing challenges, we fully prepared both teams to go to Greenland the following year.

Come 2022 and Greenland had opened its doors again. In late March of 2022 we set off across the Arctic ice, with a team of 30 individuals skiing and hauling their sledges through the spectacular landscape of East Greenland. It was fantastic to be back, especially to see all our Greenlandic friends who had been cut off from the rest of the world for so long. The expedition was of course a great success and we returned to Scotland with some very confident young people, all with plans for a positive future.

In August 2022 we returned to Greenland, this time as the first part of our new Greenlandic Youth Exchange Programme. Along with five pupils from Bell Baxter School we hiked through the mountains north of the settlement of Tasiilaq. On our return to Tasiilaq, we worked with the local youth centre on a shared art project, trying to involve as many

© Nicholas Doherty

local children from Tasiilaq as possible. It’s really important to me that we give back to any community we work with. Therefore, in September last year we arranged for a group of local girls from Tasiilaq to come over to Scotland. Not only was this tremendous fun for everyone involved but it really brought together our partnership with the community in Tasiilaq, all for the positive development of the children from both cultures.

Going forward, our plans for the future are extremely exciting. Various projects have begun which will again change the face of the Polar Academy. A couple of examples are:

• we have now partnered with Cambridge and Oxford Universities as well as the Scott Polar Research Institute with a yearon-year scientific project studying snow density, eDNA profiling, and LiDAR 3D studies of Arctic lichens.

• we are looking to expand yet again, this time into Scandinavia. This would involve both working with Scandinavian children and taking children from all over the UK to the Nordic regions.

All in all, through hard work, not only have we survived the pandemic which destroyed so many worthy and important charities, we have come out of it in a much stronger and focused way. None of this would be possible without the support of the businesses and individuals who are part of the Polar Academy family. If you would like to help then please get in touch.

Thank you, Craig.