Photograph by Kelly Lambert
by Jennifer L. Johnson
Drew Brantley called the Kennedy Space Center in August trying to find a space suit from an old shuttle mission to show his science class. Instead, NASA lent him a couple of rocks - from the moon.
Along with the lunar rocks came Lester Morales, an educational outreach specialist with NASA's Aerospace Education Services Project. Morales came to Athens Academy this week to tell students and teachers about upcoming NASA missions, discovering planets with Earth-like atmospheres and lethal lunar soil - all to inspire kids to learn and consider working for NASA.
"Getting this program to come to the school was great because they have all of these great resources for pre-K to college students," Brantley said. "And this entire week's worth of stuff is not costing the school a dime."
Morales sent 150 imaginations soaring into our atmosphere when he visited third-grade, sixth-grade and high-school science classes to share information NASA scientists learned in the last 50 years. Students and their families got a chance to gaze at lunar rock samples from the 1969 to 1971 Apollo missions at a Family Night presentation about NASA careers Wednesday.
Sixth-grader Grace Trimpe, 12, was over the moon at Morales' visit.
"I'm really learning a lot, and it's been really fun," Grace said. "I am really inspired by it."
Morales used videos and a math equation to challenge Grace's class to compare the diameters of the Earth and the moon. The prize for the correct answer was a laminated bookmark containing a piece of cloth that had been in space.
"It's a fun class," she said. "I love astronomy and I hope to become an astronomer and a meteorologist."
NASA is looking for students like her.
Within 10 years, 40 percent of NASA's current workers will leave - either for other jobs or retirement - leaving opportunities for bright young minds, according to Morales.
"Every single student sitting in the audience - you are the next generation of explorers," said Morales. "NASA definitely wants all of you out there to partake in this adventure."
And kids don't have to wait until they're grown, Morales said. Through programs like Inspire, which gives high school students all sorts of opportunities including an eight-week paid internship, students can work side-by-side with scientists on projects or make inventions that may be used in space.
When Morales was an instructor with the program two years ago, one of his high school-age students designed a new type of lock that NASA will begin using on future shuttles.
"He had a new idea that was better than what the scientists had been using, and NASA recognized that," Morales told students.
Younger kids can contribute, too.
Middle-school students have that opportunity in a contest that challenges them to design a recycling mechanism that will be used in space.
"I've always been interested in recycling, but doing it in space is really cool," said 11-year-old Sean Murphy. "We don't want to leave our waste on someone else's planet."
NASA even is involving elementary school students with two ongoing competitions that piqued the interest of Athens Academy students.
NASA recently teamed up with Disney Parks to send the Pixar "Toy Story" space ranger, Buzz Lightyear, into orbit for 150 days. Kids can design Buzz's patch, a unique emblem that astronauts wear to designate the trip's purpose, in the Mission Patch Design Challenge.
Elementary school science classes also can design and perform an experiment with everyday classroom objects in the Kids in Micro-g competition. If NASA scientists pick a class' idea for an experiment, astronauts at the International Space Station will perform the experiment and broadcast it around the world.
NASA will host an event at the winning school, complete with a visit from an astronaut and the lunar rocks. Morales encouraged Athens Academy students to compete.
"I want to come back to this school for that big event," Morales said. "That is my challenge to you."
After nearly a week of learning from Morales, Athens Academy students were gazing skyward and thinking about making their own marks in the Milky Way.
"I hope to do some of the competitions he talked about," Grace said.
Brantley, the teacher who helped bring NASA to Athens Academy, will try to keep the spirit of exploration alive and may try some of the experiments in his class.
Sean wasn't really into astronomy before he began learning about space in Brantley's class.
"I'd always thought that marine biology was cool," he said. "But now, I'm learning that there's a lot of really interesting stuff going on below our feet and above our heads."
Morales spoke to science teachers about engaging students like Sean during the school's faculty development day Monday. He also conducted Lunar Rock Certification sessions with teachers that will enable them to handle and request some of the samples of lunar and meteor rocks that NASA loans to schools across the country.
"There are a finite number of samples that have been brought back from the moon that can go visit schools," said Pat Cuneo, curriculum and instruction director at Athens Academy. "This is an exciting program for our students and teachers."
Students, parents and teachers can find information about NASA's contests and programs at www.nasa.gov.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Friday, October 16, 2009
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