National Geographic Explorer Malaika Vaz is Geoff Green’s guest on our second episode.

Malaika took part in Antarctic and Arctic expeditions with Students on Ice as a teenager, back in 2011 and 2012. She has since gone on to do amazing things. From Goa, India, Malaika, along with being a National Geographic Explorer, is a TV presenter, and wildlife filmmaker. She is the CEO and co-founder of “Untamed Planet,” an award-winning production house focused on wildlife and environmental films. Since co-founding Untamed Planet in 2017, she and her team have been producing films and series that have reached millions of people with media networks like National Geographic, Al Jazeera, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Sky and the BBC. Her recent films have documented climate change, illegal wildlife trade, endangered species conservation, industry, migration, and the human-wildlife interface. As we recorded this episode, Malaika just found out that she had made the Forbes Magazine “Top 30 under 30” North America list of young Entrepreneurs And Innovators Who Are Making An Impact Globally.

This podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Productions.

Our theme music is by award-winning musician Sarah Harmer, inspired by her journey on the 2015 Students on Ice Arctic expedition.

Thank you to another great musician and SOI veteran, Ian Tamblyn, for sharing his field recordings of inspiring sounds from our polar regions used in our introduction.

To learn more about Students on Ice and how to get involved, go to studentsonice.com and give us a follow on social media.

About the show:

In 1999, an idea was born. Imagine if we could bring youth, at the beginning of their lives, on educational expeditions to the Polar regions? Two cornerstones of the global ecosystem and windows to the world. And how that inspiring experience might shape their perspectives and even their futures.

In December of 2000, we made our maiden ship voyage, bringing a group of youth on a journey to Antarctica! An incredible voyage in what we would later call "the Greatest Classroom on Earth." It’s hard to believe, but Students on Ice is now in its twenty-fifth year. Since that first expedition, we’ve taken more than four thousand students to both the Antarctic and the Arctic, together with teams of educators, elders, artists, researchers and leaders from over 55 countries!

Our mission to connect youth to nature, culture, environmental leadership, and even to themselves has remained steady in this changing world. We now have a global network of incredible alumni doing incredible things.

This podcast is part of a year-long celebration of Students on Ice. A chance to reflect on the experiences, connections, and impacts, through conversations with the people who were there getting their stories, in their own words.

Welcome to The Greatest Classroom on Earth — the Students on Ice podcast celebrating 25 years of inspiring educational expeditions to the Polar regions hosted by SOI founder and expedition leader Geoff Green.

In 1999, an idea was born. Imagine if we could bring youth to the Arctic and the Antarctic, the two cornerstones of the global ecosystem, and how that experience at the beginning of their lives might help to shape their perspectives and define their futures.

Incredibly, in December of 2000, Students on Ice made our maiden voyage, bringing a group of 50 youth on a journey to Antarctica. And the rest is history!

It’s hard to believe that Students on Ice is now in its twenty-fifth year!

Since that first expedition, we’ve taken more than 4,000 students on expeditions, together with teams of educators, elders, artists, researchers and leaders from over 55 countries!

Our mission to connect youth to nature, culture, and to themselves has remained steady in this changing world.

We now have a global network of alumni doing incredible things.

The Greatest Classroom on Earth podcast is part of a year-long celebration of Students on Ice.

A chance to reflect on the experiences, connections, and impacts, through conversations with the people who were there… getting their stories, in their own words.

New episodes drop the 3rd Monday of every month throughout 2025.

You can find ‘The Greatest Classroom on Earth’ wherever you listen to podcasts.

We hope you’ll join us on this journey!

To learn more about Students on Ice visit us at soifoundation.org and studentsonice.com

Greatest Classroom is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Productions.