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Through its FilterForGood Eco-Challenge student grant program, Brita sent three of Canada’s most promising young environmentalists on a life-changing educational expedition to the Canadian Arctic this past July!

The expedition was led by Canadian explorer and environmental educator, Geoff Green who heads up the award-winning organization Students on Ice. On the expedition these incredible youth learned about climate change, environmental degradation, flora & fauna, glaciology, and much more with leading researchers, experts and scientists in one of the world’s greatest classrooms.

Brita is thrilled to have provided our three Eco-Challenge grant recipients, Annelise, Bilaal and Sarah with the experience of a lifetime. Their exciting and ambitious itinerary took them up beyond the Arctic Circle and to visits to remote Inuit communities. These three students beat out over two dozen hopefuls as they proved to our judges through their video submissions and interviews that they were among Canada’s next wave of environmental leaders.

During the expedition, our winners kept journals in which they reflected on the how the trip impacted them personally. Please click on the links below to read their journals and learn about their unique perspectives on their visit to the North.

You can also check out this short video filmed during the expedition in which Annelise, Sarah and Bilaal and Sarah share some of the highlights of their journey.

A student at Reynolds Secondary School in Victoria, BC, Annelise Miska is an active member her school’s “Green Group”, an environmental action club which focuses on recycling, sustainability and eco awareness. She is also the student coordinator of the Reynolds Recycling Program which works in cooperation with her employer, Pacific Mobile Depots. On the job, Annelise helps educate volunteers on how to sort recyclable materials and works to raise awareness within her community on materials acceptable for recycling.

Bilaal Rajan, who will be attending Lakefield College this fall, is a children’s rights activist, author, motivational speaker, fundraiser and UNICEF children’s ambassador. In 2004, Bilaal founded his own organization to heighten awareness of youth issues and raise money to help kids in need all over the world. Bilaal firmly believes that environmental and social issues of the world are interrelated and need to be addressed together by the youth of the world by taking action now.

A student at Centre Wellington District High School, ON, Sarah Hennekens has grown up with an appreciation and respect for nature. The environment is an integral part of who she is and provides an important lens for her daily life. Among her many activities, Sarah is a Neighbourwoods tree steward, a member of Greenlands Centre Wellington and the leader of the environmental group at her high school. She has petitioned for the ban of plastic bags in her community and for the inclusion of Wellington County in Ontario's greenbelt.