WHS Teacher to Study the Boiling River

Weston Today photo

Weston High School teacher Michael Aitkenhead will be part of an expedition this summer to the largely unexplored Boiling River of the Peruvian Amazon, joining a group of 30 or more educators, journalists, and scientists, including Andrés Ruzo, who in 2011 became the first scientist granted permission to study the river.

Mr. Aitkenhead was selected as a 2026 Teaching Fellow of The Explorers Club, the global organization founded in 1904 and dedicated to field research, scientific exploration, and resource conservation.

Explorers Club President Emeritus Richard Wiese, who will also be on the trip, said the fellowship is “a highly competitive honor for which hundreds of educators from across the United States applied.”

“This has been a bucket list trip since I was in junior high school,” said Mr. Aitkenhead. He said the team will explore three sites on a four-mile stretch of the river where water temperatures reach 200º and above, despite being more than 400 miles from the nearest volcano.

The river is sacred to the indigenous people but threatened by mining and logging. Mr. Aitkenhead said “the ultimate hope is to preserve and conserve it.”

Mr. Wiese said the teaching fellowship was established to provide hands-on field experience to educators so they can model the qualities of world-class explorers: curiosity, collaboration, and confidence. He said the program is meant to “inspire the next generation of scientists, explorers, and problem-solvers by empowering exceptional educators.”