She is rather quick-tempered, flames up almost immediately, judges and sentences right on the spot but she is soon to cool as well. This is more likely during the daylight hours, under her beloved stars she is much more calmer, sometimes even serene. The students know this well, and learned to focus on her classes, adapting to the challenges, but her eyes and ears are still keen enough to notice anything unallowed.
She was born in Alaska, to a middle-class family. Her father was an engineer at Roxxon Oil, working on their coastal bases, while her Canadian mother taught biology in a high school. She and her mother lived in Anchorage, most of the year, while her father travelled a lot and during the summer they accompanied him. Her childhood went relatively average, getting good grades and living near the nature.
She had a touch for machines, just like her father, so it was evident that she studied Mechanical Engineering at the University, what she finished cum laude, specializing in Cryogenics. Not something for an oil company but still had its uses. Meanwhile she met and married a handsome young PhD student, Samuel Whiton, who happened to earn a job from Roxxon for his extraordinary energy harvesting technologies. They offered a job for her as well, which she gladly accepted.
Things then went awry when her husband and father both perished in an oil-platform catastrophe. She and her mother both were devastated... and then some when she nosed around presistently and came to the revelation that both man happened to work on revealing Roxxon's ecosystem-damaging activities. She was furious but tried the legal ways first to earn salvation and peace but without proofs, she was deemed to failure. She even tried to break into the main office in Anchorage but was captured and sentenced for public work and money fine.
This was when she came in contact with radical environmentalist groups, joining Earthwatch, ELF and helping in the foundation of Earth First!. Greenpeace had some valuable actions but not nearly effective for her revenge-hungry soul. She prepared and carried on more than a few covert actions against Roxxon and Oscorp and other big companies who cared less than they should with nature and people living peacefully. She dubbed herself Starice and actually developed a fame for herself in environmentalist groups and the companies she threatened. During this time she met with Magneto and they had some time together, inadvertedly causing her powers to emerge, thanks to the exposure of his formidable powers at work. Still, eventually she left him because she wanted revenge on the few people responsible for her husband's and father's death - which she did, quite harshly -, and for polluting but not humanity as a whole.
Over her time with Magneto she heard about the X-mansion, so when they parted she came into New York and joined the school, trying to forget and calm a little - with mixed results. She still is a warrior for the planet but now she doesn't sneak out to blow an office or boat at least, rather spends time writing flaming articles to various newspapers.
Iceman is visibly attracted to her but Starice isn't too flattered, so this can't be more than a young man's dream. Veronique is more interested in Oakhorn, their relationship is on-and-off most of the time, both of them keeping it light.