IN Shaler Winter 2018 | Page 13

AWS project, Antarctica, its climate, geography, animals, how we will get around on ‘the ice’ and anything else they are curious about,” he says. As part of his outreach work, Penn is giving presentations to students and classes both before and aft er his deployment to talk about Antarctica’s geography, climate and conditions, clothing he will be issued, modes of travel, his job and the research. In addition, he is inviting classes to make a small banner or fl ag for him to take. He will photograph himself holding it in Antarctica and return the photo and fl ag to the classroom. Penn will also take self- addressed stamped postcards to be mailed from the “post offi ce” in Antarctica—with the Antarctic postmark. He expects to keep teaching at Shaler for many years, and adds that he will “continue to look for ways to engage and inspire our students and make myself a bett er teacher.” ■ For approximately six weeks this winter, Penn will work as part of a research team to install and maintain remote automatic weather stations all over the continent of Antarctica. The public can follow Michael Penn’s preparations and expedition at polartrec.com/expeditions/antarctic-automatic-weather-stations-2018 SHALER ❘ winter 2018 11