Julie Sommer of Omaha was one of 300 women selected to participate in an all women around the world voyage to study plastic pollution. The program supports women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as well as sailing. Julie was chosen for Leg 13: Vanuatu, Oceania to Cairns, Australia . She will be sailing on a 70 ft ketch named TravelEdge from June 5th -19th, 2020. Julie has to fund her voyage and the LMSA board voted to contribute $1,000 to support her efforts. Julie is not a sailor and wants to be as prepared as possible for the voyage, so LMSA members have volunteered to work with her in the spring to help with the sailing basics.
You can find out more about the round the world eXXpedition here.
To find out more about Julie or to help support her journey, check out her gofundme page.