From McMinnville to the Arctic Circle: Banerjee makes trip with Webb School

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Local student Dee Dee Banerjee is seen here on the Norwegian island of Lovund, where she spent five days studying Arctic wildlife.

While many of her classmates were busy studying for their biology exams late last month, Dee Dee Banerjee was busy studying the subject first-hand as part of a biology trip to Sweden and Norway.

Banerjee, a 17-year-old rising senior at Webb School in Bell Buckle, traveled to the Scandinavian nations for 10 days to study the arctic wildlife that’s native to that area of the world.

Banerjee’s trip began in the Swedish city of Ume?, where her group was joined by a group of Swedish students.

From there the combined group traveled by coach to Norway, finally taking a ferry to the sparsely populated island of Lovund, which is about 15 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

While in Lovund, the students spent their time observing an array of native wildlife, including moose, yaks, reindeer, white-tailed eagles, seals, otters and puffins. Puffins, flying birds which resemble penguins, were the main focus of the group’s studies. During the five days spent on Lovund, the students made an in-depth study of the puffin’s nesting and flight patterns.

For Banerjee, who says she has been interested in biology since the age of 10, the trip was potentially life-changing.

“Since I started taking scuba lessons I thought I might want to go into marine biology, but now I’m going to have to consider Arctic biology as well,” she said.

While the trip was centered around the study of biology, that’s not to say the students didn’t have their share of fun.

Banerjee said looking back, her favorite part of the trip was the hikes in the Norwegian mountains. “It wasn’t my favorite thing at the time. It was probably the scariest. Parts of it were pretty steep and they’re not as safety obsessed as Americans. It was one of the most intense experiences of my life,” she said.

Other fun excursions included a trip inside the Arctic Circle and snow skiing (or attempting to) in Sweden.

Banerjee will remain busy over the summer. She will soon leave to attend a month-long Tennessee Governor’s School for Manufacturing. After that she will travel to India, where she will volunteer with Missionaries of Charity, the charity organization founded by the late Mother Teresa.