Speakers Evening
Thu, Nov 12th 2020 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Speaker: Craig Mathieson: The Polar Academy,
Raffle: Eric Proven,
Reception: Richard Brown / Adam Dzierzek,
The meeting was held via Zoom
Arctic adventure was the theme of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry's virtual meeting on Thursday 12th November. The speaker was Craig Mathieson, founder of the Polar Academy. Currently Explorer in Residence with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Craig has been to the North and South Poles, where he met people from all over the world. In 2012 he established the Polar Academy, a charity which works with schools to identify children who lack the confidence to think they may be able to achieve anything significant. Target groups are those with low self-esteem and low aspirations. After a selection process, the young people receive training like walking up mountains and pulling tyres up hill and trough water to build their strength to cope with skiing and carrying equipment. They then go to Greenland and the North Pole, doing scientific research on the way. Who wouldn't love to watch the Northern Lights and sleep in a tent?
The pupils do not pay anything towards the expedition, the charity is funded by donations, but afterwards the participants must visit other schools and groups to talk about their experiences and encourage other children to take part. Craig's presentation showed the many groups he has taken to Greenland and he told stories of how the youngsters have grown in stature and confidence since their achievement. For example, of the ten people in his first group, all of whom saw no future but to leave school at sixteen, nine went on to university and the tenth became a joiner who now has his own business.'What We Do' Main Pages:
