Hazard 'Challenges' Students to Learn the Secrets of Space Travel
Posted on: Sunday, 14 November 2004, 03:00 CST
"Bringing people to the mountains-and Mars!" could be Hazard's new motto, given the number of schools sending students to the Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky, which has taught almost 60,000 kids about math and science through simulated space flight missions to the moon and the red planet.
Having recently celebrated the center's fifth anniversary, the people of Hazard are rightfully proud of having been the first rural site selected among 50 such Challenger programs in the United States, England and Canada.
The program was created in response to the Challenger space shuttle explosion in January 1986 that killed all seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, a civilian who had been selected to become the first teacher in space.
By becoming the first rural site for a Challenger Center in 1999, Hazard showed the kind of progressive traits that the NewCities Foundation encourages-in particular, connecting to the outside world.
The first Challenger Center opened in Houston in 1989. Funding for Hazard's center began in 1998 when the city received an Appalachian Regional Commission grant, which was followed by a second grant of $1.5 million in 1999 from U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers and the U.S. Department of Education.
Today, the center is close to being self-supporting. It has funded 95 percent of its operational budget for the current fiscal year.
The idea for the Challenger centers was first proposed by families of the astronauts, who felt an educational space program with several centers would serve as living memorials to the astronauts.
Hazard's center attracts approximately 10,000 students each year from Kentucky and surrounding states, with most "missions" booked a year in advance. (The center had conducted 1,375 simulated space expeditions by March 2004.)
Here's how the program works:
Teachers of grades 6-8 come to the center for training, learning to teach the specific math and science skills their students will need to complete their space mission. Back at school, students spend six to eight weeks learning all the essential tools needed for their day of flight.
At the space center, the kids use all the same equipment that astronauts use in Houston, such as networked computers, cameras, intercoms, and controls.
Hazard's Challenger Learning Center would not be the success story it is today without the support of countless groups that have contributed to its growth-including the Hazard Community and Technical College, Kentucky Educational Television, city officials and school groups from Kentucky and Virginia.
-NEWCITIES FOUNDATION
12 principles for NewCities
1. Connect to the world
2. Encourage youth, diversity and inclusiveness
3. Feed the mind, nurture the soul
4. Embrace healthy living
5. Remain true to the city's uniqueness
6. Don't merely grow; plan and develop over time
7. Build beautifully and steward the environment
8. Cultivate leadership and citizen involvement
9. Recruit, retain and generate wealth
10. Mimic bigness, but think small
11. Rethink boundaries
12. Buy locally, sell globally
Copyright Vested Interest Publications, Inc. Nov 2004
Source: Kentucky Monthly
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