Drama director, Richard Marting, had a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Antarctica over winter break. 

Marting has been at Godinez since the school’s opening. Besides being the head of the drama department, he is also an AVID teacher. 

He always had a passion for theater and took a position at Godinez to create a drama program. 

“They had a brand new, beautiful theater and were not even looking for a drama teacher, they were looking for English teachers. I came over and wanted to start a drama program. The principal at the time hired me with the intention to create that program,” said Marting. 

As much as he loves teaching, he just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to travel with his son, Jude, an alum and class or 2021 graduate, and his brother, Bill, to Antartica.

After nine months of planning and saving, the team headed of to South America for their three week adventure.

They were able to participate in the first scouting expedition to Antartica with the Boy Scouts. They were joined by a crew of about 110 people that was  heading down there across the United States and Canada. 

They first flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a few days before joining their crew and crossing the Drake Passage for two days. 

“We explored for five days, kayaking, snowshoeing, checking out penguins, seals, and whales. It was stunning,” said Marting. 

Marting made many memories throughout the life-changing experience. However, fulfilling a dream of his was one of the main reasons he wanted to go. 

“I’ve always had a bucket list dream of kayaking among glaciers. It was something I dreamt about since I was in my twenties and the idea of doing this along with my brother and son added to that,” said Marting. 

He does not plan to stop dreaming about traveling any time soon. Marting would like to visit the base camp at Mountain Everest, to hike the Camino de Santiago throughout Spain and France, and the Pacific Crest trail in California. 

Marting added, “I’d like to encourage students to think outside their day-to-day lives and make goals that are a little bit bigger than themselves. Shoot for big dreams because we got one chance and one life to do it.”

At the end of their excursion, Marting and Jude traveled for three days to meet up with Marting’s wife, Danielle, and their two daughters in Paris, France for Christmas. After celebrating their travels, they enjoyed the Eiffel Tower and Disneyland Paris together as a family.