Students share teacher’s rain forest trip via Web
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer
SUMNER
Buckfield science teacher Tom Light is living out a once-in-a-lifetime adventure deep within the rain forests of Brazil.

And thanks to modern technology, he’s sharing the experience day by day with his students back at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School.

Light, who talked to the students via satellite phone Monday, has been keeping in touch with his students through postings on his Web page. During the phone call, the students were able to share the experience with Light and ask questions directly.

Light is part of a group of 15 educators from the United States and Brazil on an Earthwatch Expedition to Brazil’s Pantanal, a wetland that contains one of the greatest concentrations of tropical wildlife in all of South America.

The Feb. 14 to 25 expedition is part of an effort to collect baseline data on wildlife that is needed to create conservation policies protecting the huge Pantanal region from development. The forested islands, set within lakes, rivers and waterways, are home to the giant anteater, hyacinth macaw, anacondas and jaguar.

In a Monday posting on the Web, Light writes, “Hey, guys! I just finished bushwhacking.” He attached photos of a tropical bird and a close-up of a mosquito about to bite his flesh.

“They were in full force on the river trail this morning!” he writes.

Four of the 10 teachers selected for the project are from Maine. On his home page, Light said the percentage of Maine teachers “shows how highly Maine schools are thought of.”

Light is an avid outdoorsman and said he enjoys learning about the earth. He said he likes to travel and has taken two cross-country trips with his family and spent five months living in Costa Rica with his family, mostly in the rain forest.

The other Maine teachers are Tabby Dionne from the Whittier Middle School in Poland, Martha Rogers from Penobscot Valley High School and Jeff Wilford from York Middle School. Their daily journals and photos are being posted on the Maine Learns Web site. (www.mainelearns.org).

Other teachers on the expedition hail from Massachusetts, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Washington State. The Maine teachers are making the trip on a fellowship sponsored by the Aristotle Fund of the Maine Community Foundation and National Geographic Society Education Foundation.

Other information about the Earthwatch Expedition and the Pantanal may be found at www.pantanal.org and www.earthwatch.org.