I am asked all the time what are my favourite expeditions. Most people expect me to say Running The Sahara, Canada Challenge, or any of the other ridiculous things I've put my body through!
Truth be told, the expeditions you see below have inspired me beyond explanation. They are the i2P Youth Expeditions: incredible young adventurers demonstrating that we are all capable of the extraordinary.
i2P Youth Ambassadors Emma Cook-Clarke, Jessica Kenny, Harshveer Singh Saluja, and Patrick Doughty travelled to India and embarked on their epic expedition across the Thar Desert, running 270km in 7 days, connecting with classrooms around the globe and learning about a captivating curriculum on World Health!
Check out the expedition website here: india2011.com
In May 2011 impossible2Possible visited the mountain nation of Bolivia, to run across the world's largest salt flats and celebrate the International Year of Chemistry. Bolivia is a landlocked country that boasts a rich diversity of cultures, languages, flora and fauna. While to the North-East, Bolivia features a lush tropical basin that feeds the headwaters of the Amazon River, South-Western Bolivia is very dry and situated on a high plateau that straddles the Andes mountains. Nestled high on this plateau among volcanoes and lakes is the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world. The Salar de Uyuni is home to ten billion tons of salt, and more than half of the world's lithium reserves. Five Youth Ambassadors were selected to join Ray Zahab, and fellow i2P adventurers in a running expedition across the salt flats. Youth Ambassadors ran 201 km, and communicated live with students all over the world. Dr. George Agnes and Dr. Greg Wells conducted live experiments that rounded out i2P's finest Experiential Learning Program to date! Want to see more? bolivia2011.com
Amazon Expedition 2010 was by far i2P's most involved expedition and experiential learning program. The result of all the hard work was an absolutely fascinating experience to one of the most mystical and wondrous places on the planet. This expedition offered something that few people on the planet will ever get to experience and we were honored to include all of the students and supporters that followed along throughout the journey!
A few of the facts and figures regarding student enrollment of the experiential learning program:
Thanks to all the teachers and students that participated in the program! We hope you were able to draw from the experiences of the i2P Youth Ambassador team and they have inspired you to push forward and achieve your own lofty life goals!
To all those people still working on the FLONA school project for the children of Taquara keep on pushing! We will meet our $20,000 goal but it is going to take a dedicated effort by everyone! Thanks to everyone that has donated and raised funds!
Visit Jungle2010.com
What:
Four Youth Ambassadors were selected to join Ray Zahab, Bob Cox, Dr. Ewan Affleck and fellow i2P Ambassadors and Adventurers in a run across a region of the Sahara. The i2P Youth Ambassadors ran a distance 260+ km over 7 days through searing heat and massive sand dunes in a quest to cross the country, while pushing their own perceived physical and mental limitations.
Why:As part of the impossible2Possible Twenty10 H2O Initiative (with Siberian Express Expedition), this expedition was preceded by an engaging challenge for schools in Canada and the U.S.A to raise awareness and funding for water-specific projects in Africa. Funds raised by the campaign go directly to GivingWater.org in the USA, and Ryan's Well Foundation in Canada. Both organizations are well respected and leaders in the fight for clean water in developing countries around the globe. The i2P Extraordinary Acts program saw over 8,500 students in schools from Canada and the United States come together to help fund the construction of two clean drinking water projects! This initiative was a critical part of the Running Tunisia website, which featured an interactive platform where students were able to check progress, communicate with fellow students & the adventurers, see the people & communities they are helping, and much more!
The i2P Education Resource program - which has been touted by Apple Distinguished Educators as truly, “21st century learning,” and “ground breaking” - took a step further with the introduction of live, streaming video. Once again, i2P Youth Ambassadors communicated directly with their peers, and facilitated interaction between students around the world and the expedition! i2P's Education Director, Dr. Ewan Affleck teamed up with educators, scientists, and advisors to create captivating Educational Modules that brought everyone alongside the expedition team as they crossed some of the harshest terrain on Earth.
Visit: RunningTunisia.com
Five Youth Ambassadors, selected from applicants all across North America, embarked on the adventure of a lifetime - hiking, eating, and sleeping amongst sweeping glaciers, polar ice and jagged granite mountains in the heart of Canada's Arctic, pushing themselves to their physical and mental limits, as Youth Ambassadors in the impossible2Possible (i2P) Baffin Island trek.
Joined by Canadian ultra runner and i2P founder Ray Zahab, along with a team of adventurers, the i2P Youth Ambassadors set out September 1st* on a once-in-a-lifetime educational expedition across the Akshayuk Pass on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. The Youth Ambassadors were required to carry all of their own gear and food, and make root decisions while on the expedition.
The entire expedition unfolded live on an interactive website; students, parents and teachers from all over the world had access to the free educational resource available in daily module form on the education page.
The team used solar technology and the latest communications technology to blog to the site and others on the internet, as well as send dispatches to various resources including Explore, Discovery, iRun and of course our live tracker. Photos and podcasts were delivered and uploaded during the expedition, and video appeared both before and after.
impossible2Possible achieved their goal with this expedition of inspiring a generation of youth to realize that they have the ability to achieve and exceed any perceived limits they think they may have- and that they hold the keys to contributing in making the world a better place- for themselves, and their peers.