Northern Student Mentoring Program: Experiences and Perspectives

Kayla Hansen-Craik and Lisa L Loseto

Fisheries Joint Management Committee, University of Manitoba

- Introductions

-Kayla: Project experiences with FJMC program

- Lisa: mentoring projects and learning experiences

-Conclusions: lessons learned, advice for future mentors

Outline

I am interested in the sciences

I wanted a summer job that I would love

I wanted to experience the wonderful stories I was hearing about

The people were great

The experiences were remarkable

Basically just loved everything about it

My first summer with the FJMC Student Mentoring Program I helped a beluga harvest monitor at east whitefish with their duties, helped Lisa Loseto and Ole Nielson at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, and finally helped the scientists aboard the CCGS Amundsen

I met many respectable people

Learned a lot

Got to see wonderful wildlife and scenery

Some projects were difficult to get involved in

My second year with the Student Mentoring Program I was able to help Jack Orr and his crew with his beluga tagging project.

Heard the whale into a net

Get the whale in a harness between the zodiac’s

Put the tag on the whale

Activate the tag using a magnet

Release the whale

Allison Machutchon and I traveled with the Laurier to collect samples for Lisa Loseto’s contaminant’s project on the Eastern Beaufort beluga population.

Take Rosette and Bongo samples from the stations

Separate and label the zooplankton by species

Add hydrochloric acid to the water samples

Record all samples taken from each station in log books (provided to sponsors)

Awesome opportunity for aboriginal students

You meet knowledgeable, helpful people

Get the experiences of a lifetime