On March 19, A group of students in Year 7 to 10 the Individuals and Societies and Science Faculties were fortunate to have the opportunity to experience an award winning Virtual Reality film about the Antarctic adventures of Ernest Shackleton. The film brought to Island School by Hong Kong Royal Geographical society, is set in 1914 as polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton led one of history’s greatest stories of leadership and survival: the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton failed in his attempt, but the events that transpired form one of history’s greatest stories of leadership and survival.
Over 100 years later the film follows in the footsteps of Shackleton with modern day adventurer Tim Jarvis, experiencing the adventure first-hand to see the effect climate change has had on the Antarctic region through immersive VR. Equal parts catastrophic and transcendent, Thin Ice VR presented a uniquely affecting account of how humanity asserts its will over the extremes of nature – often in unforeseen ways. Students were certainly impressed by the films' visual quality and the key message of the need to tackle climate change to protect our fragile natural environments.
