by CHRISTOPHER BONHAMGREGORY
Members of Camino Real Elementary 5th grade teacher Susan Lackey’s class stand in front of the NASA emblem during the Roadrunners’ Education Foundation grant-funded trip to the Houston facility. (Photo by Christopher Bonhamgregory)
Special to the Hays Free Press
Students and staff from Camino Real Elementary School had a unique field-trip opportunity, thanks to a grant received from the Hays CISD Education Foundation.
On April 21, the 5th grade class traveled from their school to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston where they learned about the history of aerospace, facets of our solar system, the importance of science and mathematics in education, and that anything is possible. Camino Real students toured the facilities with the Space Shuttle Mock-up, the Saturn V Complex at Rocket Park, and the Historic Mission Control Center among the highlights.
Before leaving, students participated in a mission patch lesson designed by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, which taught them the symbolism found in every one of NASA’s mission patches. Students then worked in teams to create their own Camino Real mission patch for submission into a grade-level shirt design contest. The winning design was drawn by Isaac Castilleja and Jonathan Flores-Gonzalez and used on class shirts which students wore to Johnson Space Center.
“It was really fun,” said Isai Ponce. “I learned stuff about NASA that I didn’t know. It was a great experience.”
Upon her return, Liliana Posada said, “When I went to NASA, I experienced how it was to be an astronaut and what you had to do…being an astronaut seems pretty cool! But you have to do training and have a lot of practice but at the end, it will pay off…jumping around in space, having fun, and being careful not to break anything expensive. NASA was fun and hanging out with your friends, visiting sites and learning at the same time, was great. I hope other kids will have the same experience as I did and I hope they have a good time”.
It was a sentiment echoed throughout Camino Real’s hallways in the days following the trip.
