labrys, études féministes/ estudos feministas
janvier / juin 2013  -janeiro / junho 2013

HELEN THAYER

Reach for the Stars and Make Your Dreams Come True

I began climbing mountains in New Zealand at age nine with my parents and Sir Edmund Hillary. While I continued to climb more difficult and higher mountains I developed into a track and field athlete. Beginning in my teens I represented three countries (New Zealand, Guatemala and the USA) on their national teams.  I later became the USA national luge champion. 

One day as I stood on the almost 25,000-foot summit of Peak Communism in Tajikistan I decided to develop an educational program and share my outdoor  experiences with students Kindergarten through High School.

Previously, I had been invited to schools to tell the story of my athletic and climbing experiences.  However now I saw a need to go further in the field of education. I wanted to inspire students, who would one day inherit this world, to raise the bar in setting goals, planning for success, practicing persistence and believing in themselves.  On that high mountain summit I decided to create Adventure Classroom. 

My first project was to ski alone across the Arctic Ocean to the magnetic North Pole pulling my 160-pound sled behind me without dog teams or snowmobiles.  My challenges included numerous hungry polar bears, broken sea ice that could part and drop me into the ocean, and forty-foot high dangerous ridges of ice. I experienced nine frost bitten fingers, a tent fire, minus 50-degree temperatures with wind chill down to minus 100 degrees. I did not see another human for a month.

However when I sought corporate sponsorship for the $10,000 budget the CEO's (who were men) laughed at me and told me that women can't ski such a journey and they told me that I was too old at 50 to be successful.

Three corporations refused me but I remained determined to make my dream come true.  My husband and I decided to save the money and pay for the expedition ourselves.

Although I would be the first woman to complete the journey to the Pole my message to students went far deeper.  Rather than dwell on being first, I use this and many subsequent expeditions as metaphors.

My solo journey to the Pole was like life itself.

I tell students that we all have our metaphorical North Poles. We can reach them just as I did, one step at a time, never giving up on ourselves.

Take a visionary look beyond the norm, set your goals with a positive commitment to win.

Plan in detail before taking the first step. A goal without a plan is only a dream.

Perseverance overcomes problems, obstacles and the fear of failure. Sometimes it is one day or one step at a time.

Quitting is not an option.

Work in partnership with team members to shape success and lead with confidence.

Age, no matter how young or old, is never a barrier to our ultimate success.

I was invited to take my program and message to schools throughout the USA and five other countries.

I continued onto more expeditions including:

First woman to walk across the Sahara 4,000 miles from Morocco to the Nile River

First woman to walk across the Gobi Desert, 1,600 miles

Kayaked 2,200 miles of two remote Amazon Rivers

Lived one year alongside three wolf dens in a unique study of wolves in the wild

Each expedition became an educational program for Adventure Classroom

In recent years I have traveled world wide to live with indigenous cultures to study their lifestyles.

I soon saw the educational value in adding the theme of intercultural respect. I developed programs that continued to demonstrate the original themes, but also included photography and information concerning worldwide indigenous cultures. The goal was to show American students that all cultures are of value and deserve our respect. For instance, the child in mid Sahara or the Gobi Desert never goes to a school as we know it. The desert is their classroom and Nomad kids learn lessons that can never be learned in a conventional classroom.

So far, since 1988, I have spoken to over one million students. The website, Adventure Classroom is used in numerous schools throughout the USA and foreign countries and continues to reach more students and schools every year.

Although prior to skiing alone to the Pole I had never written a book, I did what I tell students. I reached beyond my previous limits, believed in myself and wrote Polar Dream, which became a adult book, national best seller, is published in nine languages, and used in numerous schools worldwide as reading assignments and in English study courses.  The book is now in its second edition.

My two other adult books are presently published in eight languages, the latest being Chinese.  They are also used in schools. I am presently working on a series of children's books.

The success of the Adventure Classroom programs is not all about whether I am first or where I travel. It is all about using my experiences in exploration and writing to inspire students to realize that everyone is special with unique talents and we can all achieve our ultimate success.

When I spoke at Echo Glen, a juvenile detention center, one boy who had murdered his mother the previous August received permission from an officer to talk to me. After hearing my Polar Dream program he told me that, "If I had heard you before last August I would never have done what I did. If you could ski to the Pole by yourself and not quit I know now that I can make good choices and not give up."

And to girls and women my message is simple. Take pride in being a woman and believe you can achieve the impossible. We are not fragile and lacking in stamina and inner strength. As long as we set goals, plan carefully and believe in ourselves we can accomplish anything we put our mind and bodies to.

Now at age 75, I continue to walk hundreds of miles a year in remote and sometimes dangerous corners of the world in my continuing quest to create more educational programs to encourage intercultural respect and inspire students to strive for a bright and productive future. I will continue to motivate students to explore the world they will inherit, believe in themselves, push their horizons to infinity and achieve their goals.

labrys, études féministes/ estudos feministas
janvier / juin 2013  -janeiro / junho 2013