With the Geópolis Festival, UNAM seeks to awaken vocations for geosciences

Mexico.- The Geópolis Festival, which in a playful way seeks to teach high school students what Geography is and what types of problems geographers solve, began today at the UNAM.

The rector Enrique Graue Wiechers toured different stands, installed at the Institute of Geography (IGg), such as the one at the Mixteca Alta Geopark, where workshops are offered on topics as diverse as Paleoseismology and tsunamis; regarding the information provided by tree rings; on forest fires and fire management in Mexico, among others.

When opening the event, the director of that academic entity, Manuel Suárez Lastra, explained that for this fifth edition of the Festival, talks, workshops, exhibitions, guided tours and artistic events were organized with which they seek to motivate attendees "to study one of the most fascinating careers that exist: Geography.”

UNAM offers the study of this discipline through several degrees: Geography, in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters (FFyL); Applied Geography, at the National School of Earth Sciences (ENCiT); and at the National School of Higher Studies (ENES) Mérida Unit; Geohistory, at the ENES Morelia Unit; and Territorial Development, at the ENES León Unit.

It is expected that this day nearly three thousand people will attend the Festival's in-person activities at the IGg, and four thousand will participate virtually.

Meanwhile, the director of the ENCiT, Beatriz Ortega Guerrero, stated that through the activities young people will be able to understand how much can be done from Earth Sciences and Geosciences to contribute to solving problems of the country and the planet related to the climate change, the variation in the seasons, for example.

More than 100 undergraduate and postgraduate volunteer students will seek to encourage high school students to dedicate themselves to Earth Sciences.

Previously, the general director of the National Preparatory School, María Dolores Valle Martínez, thanked the heads of institutes and schools for organizing this type of activities aimed at high school students, in order to provide them with comprehensive training, awaken scientific vocations and where they can see how knowledge and research are applied in the real world.

He assured that playful learning, exciting, innovative and fun experiments make concepts more understandable, they can even help eliminate the idea that some areas may be boring or incomprehensible.

For young people, he added, these events become valuable tools that can help them find their vocation, to develop as future scientists, artists and humanists; that inspire, motivate, educate and connect them with the world of knowledge generation.

Also participating in the inauguration were: the general director of the National School of Sciences and Humanities, Benjamín Barajas Sánchez; the head of the Institute of Geology, Ricardo Barragán Manzo; the director of the FFyL, Mary Frances Rodríguez Van Gort; and the general director of Community Assistance, Mireya Ímaz Gispert.

With information from UNAM

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