The TALENTOS association, which brings together parents with children diagnosed with high intellectual abilities, has joined the 37th Antarctic Campaign on Deception Island along with several educational centres and participated in a video call with the scientific base at the SAES facilities. This collaboration is a unique opportunity to foster scientific vocation among the youngest and bring them closer to the research carried out in one of the most remote places on the planet.
Today, Monday 4th of March, SAES has hosted a real-time connection initiative with Antarctica for a group of 30 children from the ‘TALENTOS High Intellectual Abilities Region of Murcia‘ association: a collective of parents with children diagnosed with high intellectual abilities. The video conference connection with the civilian and military personnel stationed at the Spanish Antarctic Base “Gabriel de Castilla” has allowed the children to learn first-hand about the scientific activity taking place in the XXXVII Antarctic Campaign on Deception Island.
During the connection, which began at 10 o’clock sharp in the morning and lasted approximately two hours, the children were able to ask questions to the scientists and learn more about their daily life and their activity in Antarctica.
The scientists told the children present, from various educational centres and associations, among other things, about the long journey with the Hespérides ship [built for multidisciplinary scientific research in any sea or ocean, including Arctic and Antarctic Areas] or how they prepare for a year before starting the mission (in the months of the Antarctic summer). In addition, the base personnel talked about their daily life, the importance of waste management to leave no trace of their passage, and interesting details of small daily missions or even the lack of trees and plants there. In this task, they have the logistical support of the Army, which also protects and preserves the area. Among the local fauna, they highlighted the sea lions, the crab seal, Weddell seal, the elephant seal and a wide variety of birds. Although, according to their words, “the chinstrap penguins are the kings of Deception Island.”
The scientists of this year’s campaign arrived at the base on December 31, 2023, and return in March: the arrival of the Hespérides ship in Cartagena (Spain) is expected for the month of April.
The possibility of sponsoring a penguin from Deception Island was also mentioned, an initiative of the Spanish Ministry of Defence that seeks to promote environmental care.
For Esther Corbalán, Head of People Development at SAES, “this event has been a unique opportunity to foster scientific vocation among the youngest and bring them closer to the research carried out in one of the most remote places on the planet”. In addition, this initiative “is aligned with the promotion of STEM vocations (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in children from an early age in which SAES has been committed for years”
In addition to the children from the TALENTOS association, a dozen Primary and Secondary students whose parents are part of the SAES staff, a company specialised in underwater technology that innovates for a safer world, have joined this activity.
