We have reached a milestone at SVDP-ALC. It has been one full year since we began our pen pal program with the US Antarctic Program. On April 25, 2008 we received our first ever email from Antarctica; it came from John Miller who was then at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. (I mistakenly thought it was April 20, but it was April 25 or 26 depending on the different time zones between South Pole Station and New Orleans. The Pole is 17 hours ahead of us.) We then had the following members of the USAP email us at least one -- and many did multiple times: Leah Webster, Jason McDonald, Weeks Heist, Calee Allen (from Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station), and Shandra Cordovano, Lisa Welfare, and Sarah Krall (at McMurdo Station). By January of 2009, however, all of our pen pals had left "The Ice" and returned home to the USA. People can only stay in Antarctica for so long, of course.
However, John Miller, who was the first pen pal to write to us (see his photo above) continued to email us from the USA because of his dedication to the cause of education. We were extremely grateful for John's correspondence; he always had something amazing to say about Antarctica, education, and life in general. And he sent us wonderful photos from wherever he went.
But then John returned to "The Ice" just a few weeks ago. This time he is at McMurdo Station. He continues to this day to sent us great photos and some of the best writing I have ever seen. (His discussion last year about the death of Robert Falcon Scott was truly amazing. And everything he sends to us we discuss in our classes at school.)
So, the pen pal program continues here at SVDP-ALC thanks mainly to one man -- John Miller -- who has become, in effect, a long-distance teacher at our school.
On April 20, 2009 I wrote on our school chalkboard the great news of our one year anniversary of our pen pal program; see the photo I took of this above.
Thanks again, John
-- Adrian
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