{"id":41634,"date":"2024-02-02T19:22:07","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T00:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=41634"},"modified":"2024-02-02T19:22:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T00:22:12","slug":"polk-county-teen-sets-his-sights-on-ambitious-goal-by-diving-in-antarctica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/02\/02\/polk-county-teen-sets-his-sights-on-ambitious-goal-by-diving-in-antarctica\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County teen sets his sights on ambitious goal: By Diving in Antarctica"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Humphrey is preparing for the trip of a lifetime: diving and doing scientific research in the coldest place in the world, Antarctica.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"548\" height=\"486\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-47-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41635\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-47-4.png 548w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-47-4-300x266.png 300w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\u2019s impressive to watch,\u201d Humphreys\u2019 mother, Nicole, said. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome, but it\u2019s quite a journey. With every success, there\u2019s trial and error, frustration, let downs. The other side is to watch him go through it and keep such an amazing attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Humphreys has been filling his schedule in a variety of ways, committing to more than most \u2014 from 4H to volunteer work. On other days, the 15-year-old tackles other high-octane pursuits, like flying his first solo flight at the age of 14, diving to work on coral restoration projects, or rappelling down walls at Flaming Arrow Boy Scout camp, where he also serves as a counselor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His mother said that she realized from a young age her son was serious about his goals, and it would require a commitment on her part that included homeschooling and focusing on experiential learning in order to aid him in his pursuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Humphreys received an invitation this past fall, which stopped Nicole in her tracks. Instead of diving with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/scubanautsintl.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SCUBAnauts in Lake Denton<\/a>&nbsp;outside of Sebring as part of his work to become a MasterNaut, her son\u2019s invitation was to dive with a team this February in Antarctica, where he would learn about climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"726\" height=\"437\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 726px) 100vw, 726px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-47a.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-47a.png 726w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-47a-300x181.png 300w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team&#8217;s scientific research&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/bluegreenexpeditions.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">would be shared with universities,<\/a>&nbsp;potentially even NASA, with the dive live-steamed back to classrooms throughout the state. Humphreys&nbsp;would also be the youngest on board \u2014 and one of the youngest ever on such an expedition, which commemorates the 150 years since the HMS Challenger crossed the southern polar circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe has really gone to a whole other level with this,\u201d Nicole said. \u201cBecause he\u2019s 15, there are only certain courses he can take, age restrictions, you have to be 18 to do certain things, but the knowledge is amazing. He has learned so much in these last couple of months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As he considered the proposal to join the expedition, Humphreys quickly realized the price tag \u2014 $60,000 \u2014 would pose a significant hurdle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But instead of being discouraged by the cost, Humphreys&#8217; mother said he began feverishly applying for grants, awards, contests and the family also set up a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/my-scientific-expedition-to-antarctica\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GoFundMe account<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe was like, \u2018Man, how is that going to happen?\u2019 It seems so expensive, especially when I put the budget together,\u201d\u00a0Humphreys said with a smile. \u201cI told her if 6,000 people donate 10 dollars, I\u2019m done there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, Humphreys&nbsp;continues to prepare for the scientific expedition, diving in chilly waters, like those of Buffalo, N.Y., and learning about new gear, which will be his shield against the sub-zero temperatures of Antarctica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think the moment I become deterred is the moment things become not possible \u2026 for me, failure is just not an option,\u201d he said. \u201cDoing a lot of extreme things I do, scuba diving, flying, it gives you the mindset that failure is not an option.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Humphrey is preparing for the trip of a lifetime: diving and doing scientific research in the coldest place in the world, Antarctica. \u201cHe\u2019s impressive to watch,\u201d Humphreys\u2019 mother, Nicole,&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[7453],"class_list":["post-41634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-polk-county-teen-sets-his-sights-on-ambitious-goal-by-diving-in-antarctica"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}