Students win trip to shuttle launch
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

A Navarre teacher and 14 West Navarre Intermediate students have been invited to the launch of space shuttle Columbia by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) later this month. And it looks like they are all going to make the trip - along with a few parents as eager chaperones.

West Navarre Intermediate third grade teacher Russ Yocum said he thought he was just introducing his students to a project last year that would integrate all subjects he was teaching in the classroom. He says he never dreamed it would result in his class winning a national contest with several prizes, including a trip to the Kennedy Space Center for an actual launch.

"We received an email last year that was sent to teachers across the country about a new NASA learning challenge," Yocum said. "The international space station needed a new connection node, and students were supposed to find a name for it, then build a model so they knew what they were naming. We started the project in October and it was complete by early December."

They sent their finished project to NASA and entered the contest.

"It was great. We integrated all the subjects we were studying anyway, from math to science, to reading and even social studies. I knew we had a good project when we were finished. But I never realized it was good enough to win anything," Yocum said.

Then during Spring Break earlier this year, Yocum received a call from NASA at his home.

"They told me the name we had chosen - Harmony - was the winning name," Yocum said. "Of the 3,000 or so students who entered the contest, there were six classes nationwide who all chose Harmony as a good name for the node. We were one of the six, and the only one from Florida."

He bought some small items, like pencils and things representing the space shuttle program, and had them on the students' desks when they returned from Spring Break to let them know they had won.

"I thought we had just won the honor of saying we were one of six classes to name the node. That was enough for us. It was very exciting. I had no idea there would be actual prizes sent."

Then a packet came in the mail with a collage for every student. Yocum framed his for the classroom. It includes the name Harmony across the top of the detailed diagram and photo of the connector node, as well as the recognition of the class win and a small American flag that has been flown in space.

"Each student got one of those, and that was a big deal," Yocum said. "We thought, 'Wow, a prize.'"

But that wasn't all they received. Next came a call to take the class over to Hurlburt air field and have a teleconference with an astronaut who was at the Houston, Texas space headquarters.

They thought that was the end of exciting prizes. Until the final grand prize letter arrived, inviting the teacher and students to the actual launch of the connector node aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

"All those students are now scattered among different teachers this year, so it was a bit of a job to get the word to all of them and their parents," Yocum said. "But so far it looks like all 14 will be going down to the launch. Lots of parents wanted to go, but NASA limited how many adults could go as chaperones. So we are taking three adults from the school staff and four or five parents. But some other parents are also driving down separately, hoping to see the launch."

He said NASA is giving them a discount at a local hotel. They are taking a school bus.

"They want us there a day early to do some educational tours of the space center, and they want us to be able to stay a couple days later if the launch is scrubbed for the scheduled day," Yocum said. They will leave Oct. 21, with the launch scheduled for Oct. 23.

Yocum said with students leaving and entering his class last year, there were probably 20 students in all that worked on the project. Of those, 14 are still at the school, now fourth graders.

The students have different idea about which part of this project was the most interesting or exciting. Amanda Taylor said it was definitely going to Hurlburt and talking to the astronaut on the teleconference, while Lilah Ruth said it was seeing and eating the astronaut ice cream Yocum brought for them. Alyssa Whitfill said it was making the actual model of the node and seeing it all done. Victor Lozada said, "it has all been fun, but the most exciting moment was when we first found out we won. Everyone was very excited. And I think we will be that way again when we see the shuttle."