La Escuela Del Fin Del Mundo

Interview
the pioneer school
teaching in the end of the world
Raul vilugron and his wife are already a part of a greater process of innovation and also a part of the educational reform in chile. Brave and courageous teachers, they are a couple that leave their lifes in the city , to establish them selves with their kids in one of farthest corners of the world with the sole purpose ofdoing what they love …....teach.

how did you first knew about the project and what made you choose a life that perhaps was far from your personal goals ?
Well we first found out about the project through the news paper . At that point we talked about it with the family and mainly just based in speculations about how life would be in such a place , we decided to go and ask in the ministry ,about applications to extreme south schools and we delivered our resumes .
Before we went to the ministry , the main drive for us , was the adventure in it , untouched landscapes , extreme weather , it sounded like a real challenge . There was something inside of us that prompted us to go, beside of working in our passion , teaching .
If the application succeded we knew our lives would changeradically, from being in a very warm enviroment , having the house that we have called home for the last 10 years , having our families near , to being far from family and friends , a new house , extreme weather , everything would be new , but you know , I guess the same thing that made us rethink our decition were the same that finally made us go .

Spirit of adventure or educationalcalling?
We really love what we do . Before coming here we used to work in Liceo "Jorge Iribarren Charlín", basic level in the Comuna de Río Hurtado. A place of difficult access , far from any big town , but we assume the conditions and we really devote ourselves to the work. We love challenges , the unknown, well I guess we are a little adventurous (laughs), is one of the characteristics of ourfamily. Is also very important to say that we love our country and we deeply love its wonderful geography .
How was the “I will”?
We gave the “yes” very conscious of what we were getting ourselves into. We had to go through many selection processes until we were finally told that we were chosen .

You all are a family, what did you kids have to say?
We started by giving them some geographicalinfo and some pictures that we got from the internet ,of what we thought the place would look like , but we also tried to be honest with them and we told them the things we would have to leave behind, like our home , family , friend and mainly the lifestyle that we have had for years . They listen , they asked if they could send letters , have cell phones , watch tv and if they would be allowedto play in the snow . After we took some time to answer all their questions (laughs) they were ready to take the challenge , les preguntamos muchas veces sobre los aspectos que nosotros creíamos iban a ser difíciles para ellas y después de esta larga charla, nos dieron un "sí" decididas y nos aconsejaron muy convencidas que postuláramos tranquilos. Hasta hoy no se han arrepentido...

¿Quépusieron en la balanza?
Bueno nos preocupaba mucho la seguridad de atención de salud que tendrían las niñas, saber por ejemplo, si habría personal e infraestructura para caso de accidentes, emergencia y sobre la alimentación que hoy confirmamos que es óptima. Lo otro fue considerar lo lejos que estaríamos de nuestras familias y el alejamiento implicaría no poder viajar frente a una emergencia familiar.Específicamente por las condiciones climatológicas y de vuelos programados que existen en la Base, ya que el último vuelo regular Chileno es en abril y el próximo en septiembre. Pero contábamos además con el apoyo incondicional de nuestras familias.

¿Dónde, cómo y cuándo fue la capacitación?
La capacitación se realizó después de haber superado las diferentes etapas de la selección, entonces...