ES
On Saturday, 12 February, the Real Casino de Madrid hosted the closing of the Programa Ven a dar la vuelta al mundo, included in the Diplomacy and Civil Society Forum.
The event was presided over by Antonio García González, secretary of the Royal Casino; José Luis Yzaguirre, director of the Diplomacy and Civil Society Forum; Javier Presol Castillo, director of the Felipe Segovia Foundation, and Emilio Lora-Tamayo, rector of Camilo José Cela University.
For its part, Luz Pérez, professor of Psychology, coordinator of the Doctorate Program at Camilo José Cela University and director of the Ven a dar la Vuelta al mundo project, part of the SEK Stellar Programme, presented the project, its objectives, components and development.
This programme, which began in March 2021, made it possible for participants to share talent, and is one of the different proposals for educational innovation carried out by SEK Education Group, through SEK Schools, Camilo University José Cela and the Felipe Segovia Foundation.
In this synchronous online enrichment program, over the course of ten months, more than 300 students between the ages of 9 and 14 from six countries -Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and Spain- take part grouped in six ‘ships’. Together they have participated in ten ‘adventures’ corresponding to different stages of the journey of the first circumnavigation of the globe, marking its fifth centenary.
In these ‘adventures’ students learnt about and took part in different scientific and cultural activities alongside international experts and carried out various activities and tasks in synchronous meetings two Saturdays a month and asynchronous monitoring the rest of the time.
Following the project exhibition, some of the collaborating international experts took part in a lively discussion with students, both in person and remotely from other countries.
The event ended with the awarding of diplomas and awards to the most outstanding students, with the participation of their teachers and featured a performance from choirs from SEK El Castillo and SEK-Santa Isabel accompanied by the SEK Ciudalcampo school orchestra which offered a version of Pirates of the Caribbean with violins and cellos.
Participating experts included:
José Mª Blanco Núñez. Navy Captain. Member of the Royal Naval League. General Secretary of the Academy of the Sea. Associate member of the Portuguese Navy Academy. Member of the Academy of the Sciences and the Military Arts. Member of the Spanish Commission of Military History and honorary member of the International Commission of Military History. Advisor to the Institute of Naval History and Culture. Historian and expert in navigation systems of the 16th century.
Diego Fernández Casado. Naval engineer, currently president of the Association of Naval and Oceanic Engineers of Spain. Academic of the Royal Academy of the Sea. He takes part in various cultural initiatives related to the protection of the historical legacy of Spain and, especially, in those related to the sea.
José Sola Méndez. Aeronautic engineer. President of the Association of Friends of the Great Spanish Navigators and Explorers and Captain of the PPROS in the current stage of crossing the Pacific.
Juan Pérez Mercader. He joined the event remotely from Harvard University. Spanish scientist, expert in multiscalar physics applied to astrophysics and cosmology. He is a professor at Harvard University and is considered a world expert on the origin of life. He is a Research Professor at the CSIC, Laboratory Consultant at Los Alamos National Laboratory and external professor Santa Fe Institute, both in New Mexico, United States. It is also Senior Research Fellow and Principal Investigator at Harvard University where he researches the interface between Physics and Biology.
Rafael Áñez Regidor. Graduated in Biotechnology from the Francisco de Vitoria University, with a Master’s degree in Virology from the Complutense University of Madrid. Research in laboratories all over the world (New York, Madrid, Hanover). He currently teaches science at SEK Ciudalcampo International School, where he is coordinator of the Science Department and promotes learning through games and flexible dynamics.
The event was streamed live.
