SAUGUS Vol. 23, No. 6 -FREESHS Sachems Sports coverage see pages 13 & 16 ADVOCATE www.advocatenews.net Published Every Friday ~ THE ADVOCATE ASKS ~ Eric Brown and his two daughters return from an Antarctica adventure with some great stories to tell Editor’s Note: For this week, we sat down with Eric W. Brown, a Saugus native and software developer who last month accompanied his two daughters – both students in Saugus Public Schools – on a 16-day cruise from Santiago, Chile, to the Antarctica Peninsula, where Brown was one of the 20 speakers at a technical conference titled “The Conference at the End of the World.” Their unique trip included stops at South American cities, the Falkland Islands – where they got to spend some time up close with the Gentoo penguins, and rounding Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. Brown is a 1986 Saugus High AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD: Eric W. Brown, center, of Saugus, joins his two daughters, Rhianon, left, and Ariana, right, on the deck of their cruise ship last month in Antarctica waters – more than 9.000 miles away from their Saugus home. (Courtesy Photo to The Saugus Advocate) School graduate. Brown received a dual Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1991 from Northeastern University. He received a Master of Science degree in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) from Northeastern University in 1996. He and his wife, Nhung Pham Brown, have been married for 18 years. They met when Brown was teaching at Boston University. They are the parents of two daughters: Ariana, 16, a junior at Saugus High School; and Rhianon, 12, a seventh-grader at the Belmonte Middle School. A program for AntarctiConf lists Brown as giving a talk on Interactive Fiction. A short biography says his software “has been sent into space, carried up Mt. Everest, and strapped to the head of an Indy 500 driver.” It also notes that he designed the webbased medical monitoring system used by the two U.S. Navy hospital ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy and “was even awarded a challenge coin by the Comfort to prove it – a rarity for ASKS | SEE PAGE 3 Saugus students discuss unique educational trip to Antarctica “It’s learning, but it feels more fun and exciting” L ast month’s ship cruise through Antarctica waters was more than a trip of a lifetime for Saugus sisters Ariana and Rhianon Brown. It was an educational venture which needed the backing of Saugus Public Schools. This week the girls cited the highlights of their trip and talked about how it would benefit their education. Q: How does a trip like this enrich your education? Ariana: The trip gave a more in-depth understanding of some of the topics that have been covered in school. Seeing these things firsthand, such as the geography of the region or the culture of the people at the ports we visited, gives me a personal connection to them and deepens the meaning of what REVERE 1st I’ve learned in school. Rhianon: It provides a learning experience most people won’t ever get to see. I was able to see the icebergs in person and watch the way penguins walk in person. It’s easier to understand if you see it in person, rather than through a video or a picture online. It’s learning, but it feels more fun and exciting. 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