Argentina Couple to Drive Across Americas From Buenos Aires to Alaska in a 1981 Van and Teach Kids About Science
Nicolas Poggi and Lucila Munilla Lacasa, a young couple from Argentina, will drive through the Americas, from Buenos Aires to Alaska, in a van to demonstrate the importance of science to children.
According to EFE, Poggi works as an industrial engineer, and Lacasa is a journalist and photographer. The two just recently acquired their college degrees on Aug. 10.
In order to make the trip a possibility, Poggi and Lacasa sold their previous car a year ago and began searching for something that would be "easy to repair and find spare parts for in different countries," Poggi explained. The two decided to make their trek in a 1981 van from Brazil and will be living in the vehicle for two years.
Poggi has been promoting the project and said that they hope to eliminate the thought that "physics and chemistry are boring."
"The idea is to teach kids where to find science in everyday life," he said. "We're going to give workshops in rural schools [with] simple experiments that can be performed with materials native to each place ... using a way of speaking intelligible to youngsters at the elementary school level."
Poggi added that he and his girlfriend hope to teach children how to conduct their own scientific experiments while simultaneously heightening their own "interaction with children and the local communities."
The Argentines plan to begin their trip in Tilcara, located in Jujuy, a province in northern Argentina. They will then drive through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, before traveling along the Pacific Coast, passing through Panama and eventually reaching Alaska.
Next, Poggi and Lancasa will travel from west side of Canada to the east side. Afterwards, they will travel south down the Atlantic coast into the southern part of the United States and reach Miami as their endpoint. At the end of the trip, they plan to fly back to Buenos Aires and send their van via cargo.
Poggi said that their efforts will "be backed by the support and experience of the team at the San Isidro Exploratory," which specializes in chemistry, physics, solar energy, magnetism, aerodynamics and pneumatics experimentation.
The entire trip will be documented on the couple's official Facebook page.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.
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