A new crew

Once again, I have been spending time choosing the crew for the summer season at Nuvuk.  There are a lot of factors that go into the choice, as I explained last year.  Once again, I think (hope) I’ve got a good group.  Most of the high school students have worked on the project for some time, some for several years.  We’ve got one who has been working in the lab for months, and a couple who are totally new.  We start orientation on June 13th.

One of the NSF-funded folks was actually on the crew in 2009.  Dr. Tom Besom was going to be in Kamchatka this summer, but the project sort of fell through, so he’s coming back to Nuvuk.  A good thing, since he is fluent in Spanish (his primary research specialty is Andean mummies) and will be a big help with making sure the Mexican students from the Mexican-American Exchange project who will be joining us get clear explanations and translations.  Krysta Terry was also going to return, but her father has a serious health problem, so she can’t take off for the Arctic.  Even though we have jet service twice daily and three times on Thursdays and Saturdays, it can take a couple of days to get to most place that aren’t on the West Coast; more than that if the planes are fully booked with tourists or the weather is foggy.

I’ve still got to do the final update of the memo we’ve developed for new crew on what and what not to bring (no flashlights), and send that out.  Now the fun of trying to book cheap, yet not horrendous travel for five people to Barrow…