Middle school students see careers for the future

PANAMA CITY — Twelve-year-old Layne Seale looked directly at the sun in his plastic solar glasses.

“This is really cool,” he said.

By darkening the rest of the sky, the glasses allow you to look directly at the sun without harming your eyes, said Christopher Blair, NASA education specialist.

Blair came from the Kennedy Space Center to Deane Bozeman School this week to teach two days of a space exploration class for the school’s summer program. On Monday, Blair showed the children space food and on Tuesday he brought moon rocks, tile pieces from a space shuttle and a digital space planetarium.

His class was one of the four offered as a part of the  Students Pushing the Limits and Soaring Higher (SPLASH) program; the 87 middle-schoolers participated in marine/life science, robotics and technology classes, as well.

Principal Bill Payne said the program was based on the “twisted STEM” model: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and a new Marine Science component (Wet STEM). He and teacher Becky Peltonen designed the Wet STEM curriculum.

“Each of the core elements were specifically chosen to advance not only each student’s knowledge, but to also hopefully expose them to new areas and pique their interest, which will foster a new passion for one or each of the subjects,” Payne said.

Blair agreed with Payne’s aspirations.

“We need kids to realize that NASA isn’t closing,” Blair said. “There are still jobs and almost any degree they can use at NASA.”

NASA utilizes lawyers, doctors, mechanical and chemical engineers, among others, he said.

Blair noted the marine science class could open up a great opportunity. NASA recently put an underwater space station in Key Largo known as “NEEMO.” According to Blair, NEEMO helps measure the ocean’s salinity and observes underwater life.

At school, students seemed excited about their marine life course. “I like the fish one!” said 11-year-old Vontre Hill.

“It’s fun dissecting stuff and she’s a fun teacher,” added Alex Wohlford, 12.

The robotics and technology courses also were appealing to the school kids.

“Computers are kind of my thing. It’s a good experience,” said 11-year-old Ben Weber.

Excited about the feedback from his program, Payne said each student was completely engaged in all areas. The career-enhancing summer program was nothing to dread, proving learning indeed can be fun.

“With the ending to the Space Shuttle era, we are hopefully exposing this generation to new ideas whereby they will be the ones that will create the next generation of space travel and they will require skills in science, technology, math and engineering to complete the task,” Payne said.