From an IYM camp to the ice: One alumna’s path to Antarctica

She signed up for IYM to escape tunnel vision. Six years later, she spent 45 days camping in the Taylor Valley chasing greenhouse gases out of melting permafrost.

Caitlin Berquist grew up in Ōhope, a small town near Whakatane, a long way from Wellington. She did IYM in Year 12 in 2019 and remembers being locked onto one path at the time.

“I was very much like, I’m going to be a doctor or a vet, kind of my whole life,” she says.

“And then when it came to applying for universities, I had a bit of a crisis and was like, actually, I don’t want to do that at all.”

IYM was her way of testing the ground before she committed to a career she wasn’t sure she wanted.

“I was kind of trying to make some connections and just see what was out there in the world of STEMM, because I’d always had a bit of tunnel vision.”

What struck her most wasn’t one big moment, but a slow realisation.

“I saw there were so many more STEMM careers than I thought there were. Things like research were a potential career, and I’d never been exposed to that idea before.

“That’s kind of what I’m aiming for and doing now.”

Being surrounded by other girls chasing the same thing mattered too.

“I’d never felt out of place in STEMM, but I definitely felt like what I was trying to do was a little bit different. Being with a bunch of girls who wanted the same stuff as me was really cool and really empowering. I actually learned a lot from them as well.”

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From there, the path wasn’t straight, but it led somewhere.

A summer research project at Waikato University studying airborne microplastics gave her a first taste of research.

Then, scrolling Instagram on her lunch break in her third year of university, she came across the Blake Antarctica ambassadorship.

“I was like, wow, that’s such a cool thing to do, I wish I could do that.” The next minute, she applied and got it.

She spent close to two months on the ice as part of Antarctica New Zealand’s SENECA II team, working with the University of Waikato.

A week at Scott Base training, 45 days camping in the Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, then another week cleaning gear before flying home.

The work involved testing for carbon dioxide, methane and radon, seismic and polygon surveys, and radiocarbon sampling of soil gas and permafrost, all feeding into a long-running project on how much greenhouse gas is escaping from Antarctica’s thawing ground, and where it’s coming from.

“I opened the email and had to read it four or five times to understand what was happening. Then I was running around my flat screaming ‘I’m going to Antarctica’ in my pyjamas. No one could hear me.”

Stepping onto the ice for the first time, she says, beat even that.

“It was everything I imagined and also nothing I imagined. Total white snow, blue sky, flat ground until maybe some mountains in the back.

“It was cold, but not as cold as I thought. It was scary, but also so inviting. It felt like stepping into a world of potential.”

Caitlin is now completing a Masters in Chemistry, studying natural products made by marine invertebrates for potential use in drug development and herbicides.

She starts a PhD in the same field later this year.

Her advice to the next Caitlin, sitting on the fence about applying for IYM: “Just give it a go”.

“When you’re young and at school, you have so many of these opportunities, and you have no idea how they might impact you or where they might take you.

“If you don’t put your name in the hat, your name’s not going to get taken out.”