Francisco (Chico) Viddi is a Pearson College grad from 1994 (PC19). Born in Chile, he returned home with the values impressed upon him during his time at Pearson. Today, he continues the work he started as a teenager off the Canadian coast and shares what it’s meant to him along the way.
What are you currently doing along this journey we call life?
I became a marine biologist and have worked mostly for non-government marine conservation in Chile. Currently, I am the scientific marine conservation coordinator at Fundacion Melimoyu.
My work is on research on the ecology of whales and dolphins, mostly in southern Chile, but I have been lucky enough to be in many other regions, such as Brazil, Argentina, Antarctica, and Australia. I am part of larger teams proposing marine protected areas and their implementation in Chilean Patagonia. I have been involved in environmental projects and campaigns since I came back from Pearson College in 1994, first as a volunteer and then as a professional conservation biologist. After finishing my first degree in marine biology in Chile (Valdivia), I got a scholarship for my Ph.D. in Environmental Science focusing on dolphin conservation in Patagonia.
What impact did the Pearson experience have on that journey?
Most of what I see in my life now, the family I have, what I do, where I live, the choices I have taken, relates somehow directly or indirectly to the gift I was given when I was 16 years old, and went to Pearson College (PC). My life, as surely many other lives at Pearson, took a huge turn. To me, the most important impact the school had was the opportunity to meet and to share with so many people from so many corners of the World. It was that experience that taught me to dream, and not only that, but that dreams could become true. I learned about having values, about respect, tolerance, listening rather than talking, about true friendships, it expanded my mind to limitless dreams. Even now, 30 years later, my heart feels so alive because of all the little and big details lived at Pearson, all I share with those people. Every time I write or talk to my old PC friends, it feels like being a teenager again, full of dreams, questions, as well as dilemmas. The people I met, the people I became friends with (teachers and students), their stories, their backgrounds, is indubitably what shaped the way I live now, and that is to me the most important impact PC had in my journey.
What do you remember most or best from your time at Pearson?
There are so many things I remember as being THE BEST. Our long talks and dancing in the common room, the nights cooking in the house, jumping in the freezing water at Pedder Bay, our amazing dives at Race rocks, Ukrainian dance, One World, the many walks to Matheson lake, the funny project week we had, the skiing day at Whistler, and some very cool talks during lunches and dinners at the cafeteria, which always turned out to be so inspiring. I remember laughs, smiles, and cries. I remember people, my memories are full of them. To me it is not about WHAT, but rather WHO… in everything I remember there is a who, someone who inspired me, someone who taught me something, someone who made me cry, laugh or even mad, and from all that I learned.
Why is Pearson (UWC) still needed in the world?
We, as humans, as mammals, are socially dependent. We need to share and socialize especially in connection with nature, to grow mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically. To be with one another can help us become more sensible about our surroundings, about the world. It can help us to become empathic, and in the end, we become better human beings. All types of current crises (social, environmental, etc.) are mostly caused by our disconnection with nature and by our “locked-in self-centered” attitude. Many schools around the World could give you good academic education, but there is something that only Pearson College (and other UWC’s) can provide: the opportunity to link or reestablish a connection with people, with ourselves and with nature.
What else would you add to help tell “Francisco’s story”?
My story is similar to many other PC alumni, it is about how the experience during our PC lives shaped our journeys in different ways, in how we believe (or not) on how and what we do can have a positive impact in the World, no matter how big, or how small. To me, my story is about dreaming and working to make something from those dreams.