Baylee Garroway was excited to hear educator and explorer Ann Bancroft talk about fulfilling her dreams Tuesday at Austin High School.

“I just think it’s absolutely amazing what she’s done, having that dream of [crossing Antarctica] and actually doing that,” she said. “Especially being the first woman to do that, I think that’s absolutely phenomenal.”

Bancroft came to AHS Tuesday in celebration of Women’s History Month for a talk sponsored by the Austin American Association of University Women, or AAUW. She spoke to students about times she reached her dreams, even when they were difficult.

Garroway, an AHS student, admitted she wasn’t sure who Bancroft was before Tuesday’s talk, but she was excited to find out all she accomplished.

“I think it’s just fantastic that we could get someone who’s so accomplished to come here,” Garroway said.

Bancroft talked about her time crossing Antarctica and being the first woman to fulfill some of these dreams she had since she was a young girl.

“We really went from one end of the globe to the other this morning, starting with my first public expedition in 1986, believe it or not 30 years ago to the North Pole with … two other Minnesotans and five other guys,” Bancroft said. “Then we ended with my current project which is called Access Water, where we — Liv Arnesen, my coworker, and I — are hosting six women from six continents, and we’re going from continent to continent around the world talking about fresh water issues.”

Bancroft has received many awards for her accomplishments and public service. She’s helped women and girls throughout the world pursue their dreams through grants provided by the Ann Bancroft Foundation, and through Bancroft Arnesen Explore, which offers educational curricula aimed to inspire young people to achieve their individual goals.

Bancroft has accomplished many firsts in her career. In 1986, she became the first woman to cross the ice to the North Pole, traveling 1,000 miles by dogsled from Canada’s Northwest Territories. In 1992–93, she headed an all-woman team to the South Pole, becoming the first female to cross the ice to both the North and South Poles. Bancroft also led the first American women’s team to transit Greenland, and teamed up with Arnesen, a Norwegian explorer, to become the first two women to sail and ski across the Antarctic landmass.

Bancroft recently returned from India where she was part of a women’s expedition down the Ganges to promote conservation of water resources through her Access Water program.

Carolyn Bogott, Austin AAUW committee co-chair, noted Bancroft came to Austin about five years ago, and administrators asked if she could come back to speak. Bogott and another woman started the celebration at Austin High School about 12 years ago, creating both the assembly with a speaker and a project history contest. This year, the project history contest was held a week before the assembly, and Sydney Bina and Vanesa Garcia won the contest with their projects on sexism in advertising and women’s options in the past compared to today.

Bogott hopes the events will help students understand how recent women’s rights were introduced into society, as many people take that for granted.

“I feel so strongly that many young people do not understand how recently women became close to equals in our democracy,” she said.

Bancroft was excited to be back in Austin.

“It’s wonderful to be back,” she said. “Of course a whole host of new faces in a similar space. It’s really the gift of AAUW, and their focus is really to talk about the past and current achievements of women in this state and around the world.”

“I just really love being in front of this audience talking about dreams and potential and what it is we’re most meant to do in this world,” she added.

Bancroft explained she never imagined she would make it this far, especially when she had a career in teaching. But she never forgot her younger dreams and when she was 47, she finally made it happen. She hopes students realize it’s never too late to follow dreams, but said some opportunities can disappear over time.

“I feel very fortunate to have actualized the big [dreams] I had when I was a young girl, because some of them are a thing of the past with climate change, it’s really difficult,” she explained. “I mean, you cannot dogsled to the top of the world any more — too thin of ice and too much water. So I’ve been lucky enough to witness some of that.”

It wasn’t always easy for Bancroft to fulfill her dreams, though, even while she was in the midst of doing it.

“I cry and I laugh and sometimes all in one day,” she said. “It doesn’t make it easy, it doesn’t make it fun all the time, but it’s a joy. And when you’re following your passion it gets you through those tough times.”