Sabine Laguë is coming back to her hometown this week to share her experience of travelling to the Antarctic back in February with local students and the public.

Laguë travelled to the Antarctic with the Students on Ice organization, which offers educational expeditions to both the Antarctic and Arctic. Laguë was the only student from B.C. on her trip out of 50 students from around the world.

Laguë will be giving a public presentation Thursday, June 9 in the lecture theatre at the College of the Rockies at 7 p.m. and everyone is welcome to attend. She will give an overview of her trip, highlights of her research and answer questions. She will be speaking to science students at Mount Baker Secondary School on Friday, June 10.

Laguë said on her trip she learned how to put her own research in the context of other scientific disciplines. She was the only Canadian on an eight-person marine biology team, comprised mostly of researchers from the marine mammal unit at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She was also the only one who had experience surveying birds (something she did for her research in Vancouver). Her research was concentrated primarily with penguin behaviour, population, ecology and seabird population surveys.

"I was happy to be surveying the birds because I felt my skills were being put to good use," Laguë said.

There were gentoo, fur and chinstrap penguins to see in addition to leopard and elephant seals, seabirds and whales.

Laguë joined the Antarctic swim team while on the expedition and was one of a few students who opted to take the plunge in Pendulum Cove on Deception Island, even going in a second time so photos could be taken.

The group experienced both sides of the Drake Passage, with sailing being relatively smooth on their trip there and then sailing through the worst storm of the season on their way back. Laguë said she was one of the lucky ones who wasn't seasick, although on the trip back she didn't sleep for three nights as the rocking was so violent people were being tossed out of their beds.

The trip went from Feb. 14-27 and Laguë said she is still thinking about how it will shape her life.

"When you have the opportunity to go to the poles, which not many people do, you're called to be a polar ambassador and it's just trying to work out what that's going to look like," she said. "Am I going to pursue research in polar regions as part of my job or is it going to be something I do in my community, how far do I want to take this involvement essentially.

"The impact we saw of climate change in those regions really made me a lot more aware of the efforts being taken against climate change in North America. It's something we talk about fairly frequently but you can kind of turn a deaf ear to it because it's mentioned so frequently. Seeing something first hand really makes you reconsider how you're taking those warnings in your day-to-day "

For more information on Laguë's trip you can visit her blog at www.sabineinantarctica.blogspot.com or attend her presentation at the College of the Rockies at 7 p.m. in the lecture theatre on Thursday, June 9.