Launch of Students on Ice 2025

The conference launching the new edition of the Students on Ice (SOI) programme, organised by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation in partnership with the Direction de l'Éducation Nationale de la Jeunesse et des Sports, was held on Wednesday 5 February at the Théâtre Princesse Grace in front of a full room of Première students from the Principality's three secondary schools.

For this edition marking a number of anniversaries – the 15th edition of the SOI contest in Monaco and the 25th anniversary of the Students on Ice Foundation, founded and directed by Goeff Green – Jean-Philippe Vinci, Director of the Éducation Nationale de la Jeunesse et des Sports, expressed, in his opening speech, his hope that the students would take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to discover first-hand the realities they are learning about in the classroom: the impact of climate change, the incredible biodiversity of the sea and land, and the richness of new cultures.

The SOI competition, which the Foundation has been running since 2008, enables two students in Première to take part in an expedition to the Arctic, in Canada's far north, accompanied by educators and scientists. To date, 30 teenagers have taken part in the SOI Foundation's programme, in the heart of the polar regions.
Its Founder and Executive Director, Geoff Green, was present at the conference and gave a presentation to the students on the highlights and objectives of the programme, as well as on the 2025 expedition in preparation for the summer. Referring to the power of the polar regions, he stressed that they were valuable indicators of the health of our planet and that it was more essential than ever to work to protect them.

Last year's winners, Ms Anna Hnatenko (a student at the Lycée Rainier III) and Mr Maxime Harbreteau (a student at the Lycée Albert Ier), then took the floor to recount their extraordinary experience, which they said had ‘changed the way they see the world’. They took the audience on a journey with splendid photographs of landscapes and wildlife, recounting their encounters with local communities, mainly Inuit, the new friendships they made with fellow students from different countries, the lessons they learned on board the expedition ship, etc.

Justin Sargenti, laureate of the SOI competition in 2015, then shared his personal and professional background: a doctoral student in architecture at the Institut national des sciences appliquées in Strasbourg and a qualified architect, he chose to specialise in the study of hostile environments and, a few years after the SOI expedition to the Arctic, took part in a mission to the Concordia station in Antarctica in 2023, as part of a project supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

Finally, the Foundation unveiled the new terms and conditions of the 2025 competition, open until 24 February, as well as the subject chosen, inviting students to submit their own ideas for actions to help protect these fragile polar regions, in a free and personal text.

(Photos © FPA2)