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Tuition-free educational backcountry expeditions offered for high schoolers

Inspiring Girls* Expeditions Alaska has opened applications for its 2025 tuition-free science and art backcountry excursions.

The programs offer hands-on outdoor experiences that combine adventure with scientific and artistic exploration. Participants explore landscapes under the leadership of an instructor team composed of professional scientists, backcountry guides and artists.

Inspiring Girls* Expeditions began as an organization seeking to create space for girls and women to thrive in historically male-dominated fields. Today, the asterisk in the Inspiring Girls* Alaska name conveys that the program welcomes applications from all youths, ages 16-18. Additional eligibility guidelines are detailed on  

Inspiring Girls* Expeditions will offer two programs in 2025:

• Girls* on Ice (June 20-July 1): Participants will embark on a mountaineering and glaciology expedition on C’ulc’ena’ Luu’ (Gulkana Glacier) in the Alaska Range. They will explore the intersection of art and science as they study glaciers, ice and climate change through hands-on fieldwork and creative projects on the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River and the Ahtna people.
• Girls* on Water (July 18-29): This expedition takes youths on a sea kayaking adventure in Tut’ka’A (Tutka Bay) near Homer. Participants will engage in environmental science and art activities, gaining firsthand experience in marine ecosystems, coastal exploration and environmental stewardship on the ancestral lands and waters of the Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) people.

The program is designed for young learners who are curious about science, art and outdoor activities, with a focus on increasing the participation of those marginalized in these spaces. Both programs are tuition-free and provide all food and gear, making these trips accessible to a wide range of students. Applications for IG*E Alaska are open until March 2, 2025.

Joanna Young, the program’s director, said IG*E is more than just an outdoor adventure — it's about building self-confidence, leadership skills and a sense of empowerment.

“Research shows that in order to consider a career in the sciences, youth and early career scientists benefit from seeing people with similar identities as their own represented within that scientific discipline and by being mentored by those people,” Young said.

The program is run through the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ International Arctic Research Center, with additional funding from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program and the REI Cooperative Action Fund.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Sarah Clement sjclement@alaska.edu

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