SEMINOLE SECME SENDS SENIORS SIGNATURES INTO SPACE
On Wednesday, May 27th and Thursday, May 28th, students in Seminole SECME at Seminole Ridge Community High School will join with more than 500 other schools around the world by signing Student Signatures in Space (S3) posters.
Jointly sponsored by NASA and Lockheed Martin, S3 is one program for the SECME (science, engineering, communication and math) club. Senior Aleen Touma is spearheading the collection of the class of 2010 names.
S3 began in 1997 as a way to draw kids into space studies by giving them a personal connection to space. Five hundred participating schools are sent large posters for students to sign. After schools return the posters to Lockheed Martin, their signatures are scanned onto a disk which will be flown aboard space shuttle mission STS-129, a flight to the International Space Station that is scheduled for November 2009. Schools also receive lesson plans and information about the mission their signed posters are flying on.
After the signatures return from space, the poster will be returned for permanent display at Seminole Ridge Community High School along with a flight certificate and picture of the crew that carried the signatures into space. Schools are allowed to participate in the signatures program once every six years.
“Our goal with Student Signatures in Space is to spark kids’ interest in school and to give them a personal connection to the wonders of the universe,” said physics teacher Erich Landstrom, the Seminole SECME school co-ordinator, “In SECME we use space-related activities to inspire students to continue the stellar work of today’s space program, and to prepare young people for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
Barbara Reinike, program manager for Lockheed Martin, said “Classes usually follow their Signatures mission together from launch to landing, so it really piques the students’ interest in the whole process. Counterpart lesson plans that incorporate math and science activities help teachers take the learning experience to the next level.”
More information about S3 is available online at www.spaceday.org.
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