If it had not been for Jim, a Canadian biology teacher driving through Ohio, the six Oberlin students who attended the Arctic Refuge Action Day in Washington, D.C. on Monday would never have made it there. The Sept. 20 rally was hosted by the Alaska Coalition, a conservation and sporting group, and was intended to prompt Congress to vote against a bill that would permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

About 15 Oberlin students had planned on going to the rally by way of a free bus leaving from Columbus. However, at one point, simply getting as far as the meeting point seemed to be unachievable.

First-year Kate Lauth said that the group tried several methods: persuading Oberlin students to lend cars, renting College vans, renting outside vans — all to no avail.

At the very last minute, the group heard of a man named Jim who would be driving through Oberlin on his way to join those leaving Columbus. Unfortunately, only six people could fit in the car, so only six could go to Washington.

“It was too bad not everyone could go,” said Lauth. “It was a big commitment, though. We had to miss classes and two days of sleep.”

The students left Monday night after dinner and arrived in Washington around 8 a.m. Tuesday. Their first order of business was visiting the offices of Ohio’s senators. Since the senators were unavailable for personal meetings, the students discussed the issue with senatorial aides instead.

Senior Greg Engel said that the aides gave mostly “noncommittal answers,” although he speculated that the senators were probably against drilling.

At 11 a.m., the students left to join approximately 2000 protestors from across the nation to rally in front of Congress. Lauth “wasn’t expecting it to be that big” and was impressed “to see all these really dedicated people who drove all night to express their opinions.” Numerous press companies, including CNN, covered the rally and prominent politicians, such as Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, delivered speeches against drilling.

Of all the speeches made, first-year trip coordinator Rebecca Barnett felt that the representative from the Gwich’in Native American tribe, who lives in the arctic wildlife refuge, gave the most moving speech. He described the dangers to the land and the porcupine caribou herd, both of huge importance to the Gwich’in.

At the end of the day, after visiting one of Ohio’s representatives, the group of Oberlin students boarded the bus for the ride home. They arrived in Oberlin around 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning, tired but exhilarated. Lauth and Engel both felt they contributed to something very important. “That people would travel from all over the U.S. — from Alaska — shows this was really significant,” says Lauth.

Engel says that experiencing the rally “really drove home the issue [and] showed the volume of support” from the public.

Rebeca Bell, professional organizer for the Oberlin Ohio-PIRG chapter, which sponsored the student group, believes that the students represented a cause close to the hearts of many Americans.

“For years oil companies have been trying to get permission to drill in the wildlife refuge. The public is overwhelmingly against it,” she said.

Although only six students were able to go, Bell was “so excited by the number of Oberlin students who wanted to go to the rally.”

“I am constantly impressed by the level of commitment Oberlin students have to the political process and political activism,” concluded Bell.