Table of Contents
For two weeks, Douglas S. Freeman H.S. students will have the chance to experience what was once only a dream of science fiction fans: to step into a portal and be instantly transported to the other side of the world. Between Feb. 17 and March 1 – while not physically leaving the Freeman campus – the students will be able to enter an immersive, audio-visual chamber and interact with residents of Afghanistan, Uganda and other faraway places.
The Freeman portal, one of more than 60 worldwide, is the creation of Shared_Studios of Brooklyn, NY. It is constructed from a repurposed steel shipping container and painted gold; like most portals, it is dimly lit and includes a floor-to-ceiling screen, giving people at each location the illusion of being in the same room. The portal will sit at the front of campus, where the HCPS Technology and Facilities departments have run power and internet lines.
Freeman is the first public school in Virginia to host a portal. Freeman students proposed bringing one of the portals to campus, and funding from the Henrico Education Foundation made it happen. Teachers plan to use the portal to add a new dimension to coursework – for example, allowing Freeman students studying art, geometry and Spanish plan to talk with street artists who use ratios in their designs. Photography students hope to learn from artists in a refugee camp in Lesvos, Greece, who use that medium to tell their stories.
The public is invited to use the portal on two successive weekends to interact with people in other nations: Feb. 22 (9 a.m. to 11 a.m. with Herat, Afghanistan; 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with Mexico City); Feb. 23 (noon to 2 p.m. with an Erbil, Iraq camp for displaced persons); Feb. 29 (10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with Lagos, Nigeria; noon to 2 p.m. with El Progreso, Honduras); and March 1 (noon to 2 p.m. with Kigali, Rwanda).
For details about the portal visit freemanportal.org. A short video produced by Shared_Studios explaining more about the project can be found at https://youtu.be/me0dPBzJ2lY.
