Alumna Soleil Sabalja represents UD in Antarctica, where she spent 10 days in December 2024 as part of the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship, a collaboration between Lindblad Expeditions and the National Geographic Society to support pre-K–12 educators and promote geography education.

Antarctica Adventure

Article by Artika Casini Photos by Alexandra Daley-Clark and courtesy of Soleil Sabalja January 29, 2025

Alumna visits Antarctica through a teacher fellowship

When Soleil Sabalja reflects on her many international experiences at the University of Delaware — the 2009 alumna spent five semesters and three Winter Sessions studying abroad — she returns to a memory in Mexico.

That morning, her anthropology teacher called students and told them not to come to the universidad, but to instead meet him downtown, where a construction crew had just discovered an Aztec burial altar.

“And that was my class!” the three languages graduate squealed more than a decade later. “Those are the once-in-a-lifetime experiences you can have only when you’re learning outside the classroom.”

The trip to Antarctica was a milestone for Sabalja, who has now traveled to every continent. Her passion for international travel flourished at UD, where the three languages major spent five semesters and three Winter Sessions studying abroad.

Now in her 13th year teaching, Sabalja aims to infuse global insights at East Side Community High School in New York City, where she develops hands-on climate science programs for students in special education.

Last month, she expanded her worldwide toolkit to include experiences from Antarctica, where she explored the planet’s most remote continent through the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship, a collaboration between Lindblad Expeditions and the National Geographic Society to support pre-K–12 educators and promote geography education.

“It took me back to my time at Delaware,” Sabalja said of the 10-day adventure. “There was a different activity each day.”

The group hiked, kayaked, polar plunged, toured different species of penguin populations and enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime experiences that can only come from learning outside the classroom.

Soleil Sabalja and her 12th grade students conduct experiments on the water quality of the East River in New York City.

One of Sabalja’s most sobering and surprising discoveries occurred when the group took smaller boats to visit remote sites. On numerous occasions, they were forced to turn back, as the presence of more than three dead birds indicated a sign of avian flu.

“Everyone knows about the polar ice melting,” she said, “but I was shocked to learn about the prevalence of sick birds. It’s almost like their own form of COVID.”

As part of her fellowship, Sabalja has created a curriculum around her experience. In one assignment, students are researching a different kind of Antarctic scientist (including penguinologists!), and writing letters to the Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs about the importance of environmental conservation.

As part of the fellowship, Sabalja has created a curriculum around her experience. In one assignment, students must research a different kind of Antarctic scientist (marine biologists, oceanographers, physicists, atmospheric scientists — even penguinologists), and then write a letter to the Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs about the importance of environmental conservation in Antarctica.

“I really hope the students receive letters back,” she said.

Even more exciting is watching her students’ sense of adventure and exploration unfold.

“Antarctica is kind of like the moon,” Sabalja said. “It seems unreachable, unattainable. I love being able to show them that it’s possible.”

It’s a mindset she credits to her time at the University of Delaware.

“I attribute my success as a world traveler to my study abroad experiences,” she said. “I don’t know if this opportunity would have even happened if it weren’t for UD.”

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