Girls on Water, a camp expedition hosted by the
Girls on Water is a component of the summer program Inspiring Girls Expeditions Alaska, leading a tuition-free opportunity for high school youth that weaves components of field science, art and back country travel and exploration. This is the third year that the University of Alaska program has brought youth to Kachemak Bay using sea kayaks to explore the coast and focus on the local ecology of broad-scale environmental issues. Program Coordinator Kara Kornhauser said that the program is now in its 10th year and has expanded to include global expedition opportunities such as Girls on Ice and Girls in the Forest. Programs are offered in Austria, Canada, Switzerland and New Zealand. Girls in Icy Fjords is a program that takes place out of Seward, Alaska in the Kenai Fjords National Park.
For the July Girls on Water program, Nine students from across the country, including the states of Washington, Oregon, California and New York joined the program and provided a public presentation at the Kachemak Bay Campus to share the science projects completed during their time on the water, primarily in the Tutka Bay area, on Monday (July 28, 2025) evening. Team Jellyfish found that plankton levels, pH, and temperature significantly influenced jellyfish prevalence. Team Kelp discovered that kelp goo was more salty and less acidic than surrounding water. Team Moss observed that coastal moss was more resilient to seawater than forest and freshwater mosses. The local audience was relatively small but on-line attendance peaked at about 55 people at various points throughout the presentation.
Elly McFarland, artist coordinator for the group, introduced Monday’s presentation, “Inspiring Girls Expeditions is a program that seeks to increase the participation and diversity of people with marginalized genders in the field of sciences, art and outdoor recreation. We encourage attitudes which foster supportive and inclusive science and outdoor communities. We also foster our participants' sense of self confidence in their physical, intellectual and leadership abilities. And we try to create lifelong advocates for Earth Science and Environmental Stewardship, as well as support a network for current and early career scientists, artists and guides through continuing development opportunities and collaboration. So all of the participants that were with us on this adventure, focused on a lot of these pieces. Everybody got to be the leader of the day. We had some physical challenges. We did a lot of art and a lot of science, as you'll see in their projects to come. We have a few expeditions here in Alaska, some of which are all part of UAF and some that are part of other universities. But they do all sorts of different types of expeditions, mountaineering, sea kayaking, rock climbing, backpacking, pack crafting, all sorts of awesome stuff, all with the same mission to get folks of marginalized genders out and outdoors, doing science and art and learning how to build community.”
For the research component of the event, the students in the program were separated into groups of three based on their interests and each group chose a local biological species to study. The three groups included: Team Jellyfish, Team Seaweed and Team Moss. At the Monday presentation, each team shared components of their study, how they set up their science questions, what their results and findings were and then responded to questions from the audience and Zoom attendees.
Additional adult leaders for the group are Claire Sharp, a kayak guide, Ashley Davis an oceanographer, Joanna Young, glaciologist and general director for the Alaska programs and Homer local Lindsay Martin, the on-site coordinator.
In addition to the on-site science projects, the team spent a day at the NOAA Kasitsna Bay Laboratory for a full day to learn about expedition gear, basic navigation and kayaking skills including emergency wet exits.
For more information on other Inspiring Girls Expeditions and camps that will be available next summer you can visit their website at: https://www.inspiringgirls.org/.
