Former student helps bridge gap between Antarctica and Marion
Sports reporter
Most of today's elementary school students learned all they need to know about penguins by watching "Happy Feet."
Ginger Becker's fifth and sixth grade reading students at Marion Elementary School however, know a little bit more than average 10-year-olds.
This past winter Ethan Good, a 1996 Marion High School graduate, shared his pictures, stories, and experiences with the students about what it's like to live in Antarctica.
The penguins were only a tiny part of his huge adventure. According to Ethan's mother JoAnn, a teacher at Marion Middle and High Schools, he blames her and her husband Bob for the fact he loves to travel so much.
"We took him to a lot of places when we traveled," she said with a laugh. "He said it's our fault."
In the early part of this year, the recently-graduated University of Kansas student set out for Antarctica ready to clean whatever was put in front of him.
Although he was armed with a master's degree in aerospace engineering, he wasn't there to study the land or make a new discovery (not officially anyway). He was there on the payroll of Raytheon, as a kitchen worker.
"He didn't care what he did," JoAnne said. "He just wanted to go."
And go he did.
When the three-month trip was over, Raytheon dropped him off in New Zealand. On his own watch he then traveled to Easter Island, and then to Chile where he is now, doing whatever aerospace engineers do in their spare time.
Of course in his spare time in Antarctica, he found moments to write to Mrs. Becker's students who wanted to know everything from what penguins were like to whether or not he would write a book. He corresponded when he could, although Internet connections were spotty at best. "The kids were so excited," Becker said. "They watched for an e-mail every day."
The correspondence between the class and Ethan started after the students read Michael McCurdy's, "Trapped by the Ice!."
"I like to try and connect [the classroom] with the real world," Becker said.
She also said it was a good grammar lesson for the students when they wrote to Ethan, and helped them work on asking open-ended questions.
While most of the questions were educational, sometimes they were just for fun, and other times even scary.
Ethan answered one student by assuring him he had never fallen through cracked ice, and another by telling him of all the layers of clothing he wore to stay warm.
During his time at McMurdo Station, Ethan lived out a dream not many can say they have.
Now he is visiting a different part of the world in Chile where contact with Marion is still limited.
But for a small group of students, that contact is one they won't soon forget.
"It was something that may never happen again for them," Becker said.
