Following message is being forwarded on behalf of Pat Palazzolo KB3NMS ex KA3WZP. If you can help her students out, it would be greatly appreciated.
73, ron w3wn
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Palazzolo Pat <ppalazz...@uscsd.k12.pa.us>
Date: Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 11:10 AM
Subject: High School Students Need Your Votes!
To: wa...@yahoogroups.com
Hello, Everyone --
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Palazzolo Pat <ppalazz...@uscsd.k12.pa.us>
Date: Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 11:10 AM
Subject: High School Students Need Your Votes!
To: wa...@yahoogroups.com
Hello, Everyone --
A team of my students has been having quite a "spacey" year! About this time last year, they were one of five teams to have their experiment flown to the stratosphere on a big weather balloon out of NASA-Glenn Research Center in Ohio. It was exciting to chase it with our amazing ham volunteer -- and to find it intact in a cornfield! The kids were so inspired by that great hands-on technology adventure that they entered another competition and ended up as one of the top ten teams in SPHERES. (This was a programming competition run by NASA and MIT -- i.e., programming "nanosats" to move around inside the International Space Station. So, our team was one of the ones that had the ISS commander actually use their program on board.)
Now, the same group of kids is one of the national finalist teams for a competition called the Conrad "Spirit of Innovation" Awards. Their innovation -- called the Perpetual Harvest Space Nutrition System -- is basically a bioreactor that recycles human waste into nutrition and is designed for long-duration space tavel.. This competition is part technology/part entrepreneurship. 10% of the final score comes from votes received in a "people's choice" onlne vote -- and today is the last day to vote! In addition, the team that receives the greatest number of "likes" on its Facebook page will get a special tour of Facebook HQ when we're out in Silicon Valley for the final summit and competition. (We head out to NASA-Ames at 4 AM!)
As much as I am excited to travel to the summit with my students, it's killing me that I have a VIP invitation to be at the upcoming shuttle launch thanks to a former student who is now high up at NASA HQ. . . and can't go to it due to this Conrad Awards contest. This is Pittsburgh's own Mike Fincke's launch -- the astronaut with whom you made such a spectaularly successful contact for us back in 2004's ARISS (not to mention all the other high profile things about this launch.) The original launch date was April 19 -- but a fuss with the Russians regarding docking the shuttle and Progress at the same time resulted in the date change. So, now -- because the airlines will not let you transfer a ticket to another person -- I have to go to NASA-Ames with my current students, rather than to the launch at the invitation of my former student. But -- perhaps that is as it should be . . . the kids I have now are the "next generation" and the future of aerospace.
So, this is where you come in . . . if any of you and anyone you know might be willing to vote for our team today (which is one of only two Pennsylvania teams that made it to the Finals) . . . here's what to do:
To vote for "Team Ouroboros" (named after the mythological snake that consumed itself starting with its tail -- a symbol of things "perpetual") -- go to www.conradawards.org and click on "Teams" in the menu bar at the top. Then click on "Vote" next to "Ouroboros" in the "Aerospace" Division.
To also help us with the Facebook tour contest, go to www.facebook.com/teamouroboros and click on "like."
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Pat
--
Patricia Palazzolo
Gifted Education Coordinator, 7 - 12
Upper St. Clair High School
1825 McLaughlin Run Rd.
Upper St. Clair, PA 15241
412-833-1600, ext. 2522
Patricia Palazzolo
Gifted Education Coordinator, 7 - 12
Upper St. Clair High School
1825 McLaughlin Run Rd.
Upper St. Clair, PA 15241
412-833-1600, ext. 2522
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