Veazie Teachers Chosen For NASA Program-WABI-TV
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A pair of teachers from the Veazie Community School are proving they have the right stuff.
Lauree Gott and Brian Gonyar applied to the NASA Sofia Project in November.
Just recently they found out they were accepted to the program will go to California as Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors.
SOFIA stands for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, it is the world’s largest flying telescope.
They will get to fly and study along side NASA engineers and astronomers.
It shows their students the value placed on learning, not just while you’re in school but for your entire life.
“Learning is fun,” said Gott. “Even when you’re an adult and having that opportunity to learn new things and get excited about new things as a teacher and knowing that we’re going to learn and be able to bring that back in to the community and to the kids is just very exciting.”
” How often do you get to put into practice things that you work with every day,” said Gonyar.” “Teach students about and they’re always asking “Why do I need this?” “How and I going to use this?” and here’s a chance to kind of share that with them.”
Gott teaches science at Veazie Community School, Gonyar teaches math, and they are among 28 teachers chosen to fly this year.
The flight dates have not been announced, but they will likely fly at least twice.
From NASA Educator Professional Development Program Will Fly Again in 2015
2014 Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors Lynne Zielinski, Heidi Steinbrink, Marcella Linahan, Pamela Harman the Educational Program Co-Manager for SOFIA, Tom Jenkins, and Vivian Hoette focus in on an observation target. Image Credit: NASA/SOFIA
Working to expand professional development opportunities for science educators across the United States, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy program, known as SOFIA, has selected 14 two-person teams for its 2015 Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors.
The flying observatory is a highly modified Boeing 747SP jetliner carrying a 100-inch (2.5-meter) effective diameter telescope. Fitted with instruments that collect data at infrared wavelengths, SOFIA flies at altitudes between 39,000 and 45,000 feet (12-14 kilometers) on 10-hour overnight science missions.
Each educator team will complete a graduate credit astronomy course and then will be paired with a team of professional astronomers conducting science flights aboard SOFIA. After their flight experiences, ambassadors take what they’ve learned from the program into their classroom and communities to relate the scientific discovery process and its value to society.
“The Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program gives science educators a unique opportunity to interact with all facets of a NASA science mission,” said John Gagosian, SOFIA Program Executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Not only are these educators witnessing scientific research first-hand, they’re seeing the wide range of professional and technical expertise needed to support that research, from engineering to technology to mathematics. This program shows educators the excitement of frontier science, and it shows students the multitude of career paths within NASA’s programs.”
The 28 Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors selected for 2015 come from 12 states plus the District of Columbia. Six of the states (Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Oklahoma) as well as the District of Columbia are new to the program.
Educators selected for the 2015 cohort of this highly competitive, professional development program are:
- Brian Gonyar and Lauree Gott, Veazie Community School, Veazie, Maine
