![]() Before the contact, YSP staff coordinated the submission and selection of the questions and held a dress rehearsal of the event the Friday before to ensure that the timing of the questions was feasible. Most of ARISS’s members, including those who helped with Vermont Elementary’s contact, are knowledgeable volunteers with an interest in space, radio and science education.ĭieuwertje “DJ” Kast, STEM program manager at JEP, said the preparation leading up to the event was a significant undertaking. “I think to see that age group and the way that they will be excited - that will be exciting for me.”ĪRISS, an international organization devoted to arranging these contacts between schools around the world and astronauts aboard the ISS, has set up hundreds of educational contacts to date with schools on six continents. “It is a pretty indescribable thing when the static fades away, and you actually get that clear reception, and the pass has really started,” Barakat said. Barakat spent the summer preparing as well, amending YSP curriculum with a combination of “some quality space education, a little bit of ham radio and a little bit of ISS-specific information” and getting a ham radio license.īarakat said she believed the contact would help the Vermont Elementary students put a human face to what they’ve been learning about space exploration. However, with help from local radio experts who had the proper equipment for the contact and were familiar with the application process, the program’s second attempt was approved.īarakat said discussions with Vermont Elementary staff and preparation for the contact began in April. YSP’s first application for a contact, submitted in 2017, was turned down. “ not, you know, difficult it’s not just for some people - it can be for everyone.” “We really talked a lot about the things that we already do at YSP, the fact that we’re targeting underrepresented groups in the Los Angeles Unified School District and trying to encourage them to pursue STEM education, realizing that science is not a scary thing,” Barakat said. It asks why the school is deserving of the collaboration and how the contact would benefit the community. The application process takes nearly a year and resembles a grant application. A judging panel of YSP staff selected 20 of the student questions for the contact.įacilitating the contact was no simple feat, said Rita Barakat, the assistant director of YSP. ![]() In preparation for the call, each of the school’s approximately 270 third- through fifth-grade students wrote two questions for Italian astronaut and ISS commander Luca Parmitano, who has performed 45 similar educational contacts since 2013. YSP comprises 24 teaching assistants, undergraduate USC students with STEM majors who assist with science lessons and activities at seven schools in the USC Family of Schools. ![]() The idea to apply for the contact came from the Young Scientists Program, an offshoot of the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ Joint Educational Project, a service-learning initiative that partners USC students with local community organizations. to participate in a contact with the ISS via ARISS. ![]() Vermont Elementary is the first elementary school in L.A. While most elementary school students in Los Angeles were lining up single file in preparation for recess or lunch Monday afternoon, students at Vermont Avenue Elementary School were assembling for a different reason: They were about to converse with an astronaut at the International Space Station as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Program. Young Scientists Program, part of the Joint Educational Project, helped facilitate contact between students at Vermont Avenue Elementary School and International Space Station commander Luca Parmitano Monday. ![]()
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