When Gabe Castro-Root, a senior in the School of Communication, was selected to join multiple prominent scientists, astronauts and journalists to report on an all-expenses-paid 10-day voyage to Antarctica, he thought it was “too good to be true.”
The freelance environmental journalist and photographer spoke to fellow American University SOC students and faculty on his expedition to the frozen continent on Jan. 29 during the “Polar Perspectives” event — complete with pictures of everything from massive glaciers to colonies of penguins.
“Obviously, I was really excited to see penguins and seals and whales and all that incredible wildlife there,” Castro-Root said. “But I also just kind of had no idea what to expect, and I think that was really exciting.”
The Space2Sea Antarctica Voyage of Legends expedition was the first trip organized by Future of Space, an initiative self-described as aiming to “bring the space and non-space communities together.” The expedition featured notable speakers including astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astronauts Scott Kelly and Jose Hernandez and “Star Trek” actor William Shatner.
Castro-Root was selected to join the media team covering the expedition, along with climate journalist Ann Curry and former Vice President and Managing Editor of CNN’s Washington Bureau Antoine Sanfuentes.
Sanfuentes, who graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1989, has been a distinguished lecturer at SOC since 2022. He said when Future of Space reached out to him to procure a student journalist, he suggested his alma mater.
“My longtime loyalty to AU was something I was happy to sort of give back,” Sanfuentes said. “I
mean, as an alumni and someone who's collaborated with this school for so long, how does it feel to see an AU student up here talking about this incredible opportunity?”
Over two dozen other students applied for the opportunity through a SOC essay contest, according to a November 2024 press release.
Castro-Root said he started his career in environmental journalism by interning for the health and environment team at Bloomberg Industry Group and the health section of the San Francisco Chronicle. He also wrote a few stories for Space.com, a general-interest space exploration news site, while on the expedition, and is currently working on a Smithsonian Magazine story about Antarctic krill.
In addition to seeing the native wildlife, the expedition visited multiple historic sites on the continent. This included Elephant Island, where explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew were shipwrecked after their ship Endurance sank in 1915, and Whalers Bay on Deception Island, an old whaling station evacuated upon the eruption of a volcano.
There were also stops at several glaciers and icebergs with multiple speaker events on the boat. Castro-Root said all this made for a demanding schedule.
“There were a lot of things competing for attention all the time, and at first that was a little bit stressful, but also everyone else was in the same situation,” Castro-Root said. “And there were definitely a good number of early mornings and late nights — but the sun was out all the time, so it didn't really feel like it.”
Castro-Root told The Eagle that Antarctica was unlike any other experience he has had as a journalist. Having come into the industry after the pandemic, he said he spends most of his time at a desk talking to people on the phone instead of meeting them face-to-face.
“Having the opportunity to be in a place like that and experiencing it so completely for 10 days, really made me appreciate and have an even greater understanding of the importance of experiencing things yourself as a journalist,” Castro-Root said. “Because there's so much you don't know.”
Terry Bryant, the director of SOC’s Journalism Division, said he hopes Polar Perspectives showed “how great of a journalism school [SOC] is.”
“We already know that we produce journalists who get great jobs in high-profile media organizations,” Bryant said. “But this is an example of showing what you can do as a student here.”
Editor’s Note: Gabe Castro-Root is a former local news editor for The Eagle. He was not involved in the pitching, writing or editing of this article.
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Nicole Kariuki.
