Thirty students and post-doctoral fellows from the Department of Biology travelled to the province's West Coast during the recent midterm break to visit Memorial's Bonne Bay Marine Station and to Gros Morne National Park and Marble Moutain to try their collective hand at ice fishing, snowshoeing, sledding and downhill skiing.

“This event has been running for four years now and this was the first time we had a waitlist for participants,” said Victoria Neville, trip organizer, Biology Graduate Student Association. “Also, this year we had the greatest number of international students in attendance, with participants from Canada, the United States, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Denmark and South America. It was great to see them skiing the hill at Marble, snowshoeing to the base of Gros Morne or catching trout on Rocky Harbour Pond. I was pleased with what they took away from the trip, learning just how fantastic the West Coast of Newfoundland and Labrador can be after a ton of fresh, powdery snow has fallen.”

During the group’s trip, the snow accumulation climbed well above the street signs. The mounds of white stuff provided a great base for snowshoeing expeditions to Gros Morne and Western Brook Pond. The group blazed their own trails on the hikes, climbing massive banks of snow to access the buried trails.

After experiencing the outdoor activities Gros Morne had to offer, the group was treated to a tour of the Bonne Bay Marine Station aquarium in Norris Point by Memorial alumna Michelle Valiant.

“Everyone was thrilled to see the marine animals in the aquarium,” said Ms. Valliant. “It was a lot of fun interpreting a thing or two about the creatures.”

The trip provided an opportunity for undergraduate students, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to engage in a different way than they would day-to-day on campus. Students and fellows got to better know each other; many discussed possible future career directions and the opportunities available to them at Memorial and abroad.

“Overall, the midterm trip was a great success,” said Ms. Neville. “I hope that the Biology Graduate Student Association and the Bonne Bay Marine Station make this a long-running tradition.”