Educators Say Adventure to Win Out Over Fear
By Emily Berg/Staff Writer
APPLE VALLEY — Humanity’s drive for adventure and knowledge of the unknown will win out over fear, local science educators say.
In spite of Saturday’s loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its seven crew members, officials at the Lewis Center for Educational Research believe the program will continue and kids will still want to be astronauts when they grow up.
The Lewis Center in Apple Valley launched its reputation on its astronomy programs with the National Aeronautics Space Administration. Encouraging students to love science and experience it everyday is a big part of the research center and its charter school’s mission.
People always want to experience new things and have a God-given curiosity that spurred them on to explore the world in 1492 and now they explore space, said Rick Piercy, the chief executive officer of the Lewis Center.
“My guess is it won’t deter anyone from wanting to be an astronaut and learning about space,” Piercy said.
NASA and the space shuttle program stand for human exploration and hopefully kids will understand the dangers involved in pioneering efforts, said Jim Roller, the senior vice president of the Lewis Center.
"(The Challenger tragedy) was devastating but it didn’t seem to quell the interest of kids in exploration,” Roller said.
Student Andrew Duncan said the exploration should continue, but he doesn’t want any more human lives lost exploring outer space.
“I think we should switch it to cameras or robots instead of using our own native culture of Americans,” said Duncan, a sixth-grade student at the Lewis Center’s charter school the Academy for Academic Excellence.
Seventh-grader Steven Pacheco said he feels sorry for the astronauts’ families but said the tragedy won’t change the fact that he loves science and learning about the planets.
“I don’t think it will affect me very much,” Pacheco said. “We should keep learning about them because there is so much to learn.”
Piercy said despite the known dangers he believes the space program is safe. Every space shuttle launch is dangerous with the astronauts traveling at 18 times the speed of sound through 3,000 degree temperatures, Piercy said.
“It’s phenomenal that anyone makes it back from space but we do — over and over again,” he said.
Piercy and his staff will continue to reinforce to their students that the astronauts understand the risk and that their NASA support crew understand it and really care about getting them back safely.
Adelanto teacher Julie Taylor won the 2001 Presidential Award in the area of science and math but astronomy is her specialty. NASA recently reinstated the teacher program that resulted in Sharon Christa McAuliffe joining the fateful crew of the Challenger in 1986.
Taylor already put her name in be the next teacher aboard the space shuttle.
“We (teachers) dream of being astronauts too,” said the fifth-grade teacher at Desert Trails Elementary School.
Used with permission, Daily Press, Freedom Communication 2003