There are so many things that I want to share from my 36 hours in southern California that I barely know where to begin! It was really a fantastic trip. Each of the previous times I have mentored Vomit Comet teams, there hasn’t been enough money available for us to travel to visit our schools, so I didn’t quite know what to expect from this trip. I was a little nervous about “clicking” with the teachers and the students, and covering the questions about their experiment that we needed to discuss. But of course I shouldn’t have worried at all. Every teacher I have ever met who has a relationship with NASA…well, they’ve all just been exceptional and inspiring people.
My day started at my hotel, which you will hear MUCH more about tomorrow. I got in late on Monday night after my flights were delayed due to bad weather out west and I had to get up super early to get to the first of the two schools that make up my team. The two schools are about 60 miles apart, one in Huntington Beach and one in Moreno Valley. I stayed in Riverside, which was much closer to Moreno Valley, so I had to make the drive down to Huntington Beach and still get to the school by about 8:30 am! Fortunately I managed to time everything wonderfully, and traffic cooperated, and I arrived right on time. The drive was actually kind of pretty, despite the weather — it’s just sooooo darn nice to see some hills!
I arrived at the school and immediately saw this sign next to the front door! That was so cool; I loved it! It immediately put me at ease, and I was no longer worried about whether the trip would be productive. It’s always nice to feel welcome. I spoke with the principal for a few minutes (she will be traveling to Houston along with the two teachers) and then went down the hall to meet the kids and see their experiment! There are about 20 5th graders participating from this school, and they are investigating buoyancy and static electricity while learning about the periodic table and concepts like atomic mass.
I spent about 20 minutes just answering their questions about NASA and space, and then they showed me their experiment. It involves four balloons each filled with one gas: carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, and helium. Helium is the only one that floats in normal gravity, while the others sink to the ground because their atomic mass is heavier. The kids are predicting how things might change in zero gravity, and whether the balloons will float or sink, and whether they’ll do so faster or slower. It’s a simple experiment (one for which I’m sure you can all guess the outcome), but it’s perfect for elementary school kids. After they headed off to recess, I was able to talk to the teachers to take care of all the technical details and paperwork-type stuff that NASA needs.
After an hour and a half at the school, it was time to drive back towards Moreno Valley to visit the second school. I stopped for lunch at a VERY crowded Panera, mainly because I wanted their free wi-fi. It started to rain while I was there, but I didn’t think much of it. I left with 25 minutes to spare, knowing that the GPS had told me I needed 15 minutes to get to the school. I hopped in the car and got on the highway and immediately hit a snag. Traffic was just crawling — and it wasn’t even raining that hard! I was mentally making fun of the LA drivers who can’t handle the rain when all of a sudden, it started POURING. As in: torrents of water gushing out of the sky, covering the roads, and making it next to impossible to see anything.
Here’s that part where I must pause to mention my rental car. I had a reservation for a compact car, but when I arrived, the agent asked me if I wanted to upgrade to a full-size car for only $1 more. “That’s ok,” I replied, “a Yaris or Aveo is fine, it’s just me.” She typed for a minute or so. “Are you suuuure?” she asked again. It was late. I was tired. And I just wanted to get to my hotel and get some sleep. “Ok, fine, I’ll take a full-size car,” I said.
And here’s the part where she said “oh, I tell you what I’ll do — I’ll give you a new 2010 Mustang! It’ll be great.”
And that is how I ended up in a convertible that 1) I couldn’t use because it rained both days I was there, 2) was so low to the ground that I could barely see anything when the rain came pouring down and 3) had a canvas roof that sounded like it would be ripped apart when the hail began.
Hail? Oh yes. While I was driving 20 mph down the highway because I couldn’t see 10 feet in front of me through the rain, it started HAILING.
At that point, I stopped making fun of California drivers.
I finally got to the school only a few minutes late, except my arrival coincided with school letting out for the day, which coincided with a hundred parents wading through the rivers of water flowing down from the foothills to pick up their kids. I sat outside the school in traffic for a full half hour before I made it into the parking lot. WHEW.
Finally, I made it out of the car and into the library where the 4th and 5th grade science club was anxiously awaiting me. After another Q&A session, they showed me their experiment, which involves taking some toys into microgravity and predicting how they will behave. One of their toys is a balloon rocket car, which they were testing on a wooden track. Another simple experiment that’s well suited for elementary kids.
I ended the day by going out to dinner with four teachers from the second school. They have flown a couple experiments in years past and have a solid group of teachers that have developed a great relationship with NASA and with their school district. They actually have a WAITING LIST of kids who want to be in the science club but can’t because there’s no room — how awesome is that, that the demand for science is so great?! One of the teachers even talked about how she had come up with a new project for the wait-listed kids to work on.
It was so cool to see teachers who are so excited about getting their kids hooked on science and math. I can’t wait till they get to Houston to fly their experiments!
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