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| Encouraging more women and girls to have an interest in aviation... |
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Cindy:
When I was about six years old, I remember standing outside in my front yard and looking at
the moon one, clear night. My dad came out and told me that some men had walked up there
and had put a United States flag on it. I used to go outside and look for the flag at night,
wondering if I would ever be able to see it. From that time on in my life, my eyes have been
focused skyward with wonder.
Today, I am a mathematics teacher at Milan High School in Milan, Michigan. I teach with that
same curious nature, mostly geometry courses, and have approximately 155 students per
year. I am not a typical teacher. I try to find new, creative approaches to make learning more
meaningful for my students. I have won some awards in recognition of my efforts including the
2005 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. I participate in
several professional development activities throughout the year, many at my own expense.
One of these professional experiences occurred in July 2002 and literally has changed my life.
I was at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for a workshop when Bob
Gabrys, Chief Education Officer, told my teacher group that NASA would again be accepting
teacher applications for the Astronaut Corps. My ears perked as he told us they would train
teachers to be full-fledged astronauts for a few years, let them travel into space, and then
return them to their classrooms to teach (that has since changed). After I returned home, I
checked the NASA website frequently for application updates and finally found the application
in the spring of 2003. I applied and the wait began. I received various letters and forms from
Washington and Houston frequently and was one of 100 teachers asked to get a flight
physical and fill out some extra health forms. I waited and hoped for nine months. Finally, the
letter came in which NASA thanked me for my application but informed me they had decided
not to select me. I was very disappointed, but know that all things happen for a reason.
Since then, because I made the top 200 teacher applicants, I was invited to be part of a group
called the Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers (NEAT). Being part of this group has
opened the doors of opportunity for me and my students in many ways. Through Network
regional workshops at Glenn Research Center, I have gained several resources to use in my
classroom. My students have built model rockets from NASA, learned about the space
program, have interacted with NASA lessons I have used in class, and heard NASA employees
speak on various topics.
It is through NASA that I realized how important it was to help my students learn about
careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In particular, for the last
few years, I have tried to find learning opportunities for female students who demonstrate
talent in the math courses I teach. In the spring of 2006, I planned a “field trip” to Glenn
Research Center in Cleveland, OH, where my students actually observed and interacted with a
test being performed in the Icing Research Tunnel. The scientists were studying the formation
of ice on the leading edge of a plane’s wing. The girls were there all day, but were particularly
thrilled to be able to go in the tunnel after the test, observe the formation of the ice, touch it,
talk to the lead scientist (also a female), and go on tours of other research facilities. Many
talked about that experience the rest of the school year and gave STEM careers much more
thought. This year, I took a few female students to a state Math and Science Symposium that
I was invited to through NASA. These girls mingled with leaders in math and science education
in Michigan and were asked for input. It was empowering to them and helped them realize
they could be leaders even though they were young women. One of my female students told
me about a science and math career day at Michigan State University and “thought it would be
a good opportunity for our girl group”. We jointly invited others and they had a great day
learning about several careers in the medical field and scientific research.
Because I love to fly and always wanted to take flying lessons, I decided to start flying in late
November 2006. I never dreamed that I would enjoy it as much as I have. My instructor has
said I am “seriously hooked”. I recently finished my solo cross country flights and am now
preparing for my written test, oral test, and check ride. It has been amazing to me to learn
about the connections flying has with the curriculum I teach. I have discussed several things I
have learned through my flying lessons with my students. For example, some of these include
how the center of gravity placement affects the choice of dihedral angle for the wings, runway
alignment compared to a compass, how to navigate, flying in the pattern, and several other
math related connections to flying. One particular flight I was able to share with students was
a trip I took last fall aboard the Zero G Boeing 727. The students listened with intense
curiosity and asked me several questions about my experience. We were able to discuss the
parabolas the plane performed and points on the parabolas where weightlessness and
several g’s occurred.
This past spring, I came up with the idea to bring 26 female students to the airport I fly out of
to hear my flight instructor and some females talk about their roles in aviation and space
exploration. One flight instructor was female, 25 years old, and teaching doctors how to fly.
The girls were fascinated by her and one of my students signed up to take flying lessons from
her that day. It has been a thrill for me to be in the role of a student, learning about flying, at
the same time as one of my students. Another person the students were fascinated by was
Dr. Kathy Clark, former Chief Scientist for Space Exploration at NASA in Washington DC. The
students were completely drawn to Kathy and what she had accomplished as a female
scientist. When we came back to school, all the girls were telling their friends about Kathy, as
if she were the latest rock star. It was great to be able to provide the girls with this
experience! In one of my students’ evaluation about the airport trip, she said, “This field trip
obviously opened my mind about flying, and I am really excited that I will be taking flying
lessons…The speakers were very inspiring and informative and everything was very well
planned and organized. I learned a lot throughout that day and I loved it. This was a great
field trip, and I hope that you continue doing things like this for your students. All of the field
trips and activities that you have planned have been so great and they are opportunities that
most people would have never had without you doing so.” This statement and many others
similar to it inspire me to keep building relationships and creating opportunities, especially for
my female students, so that they can see they have so many options in aviation, space
exploration, and other STEM careers. It is a lot of fun for me to watch my students experience
the wonder of flight, whether it is related to a Cessna 152 or a space shuttle.
About half of these girls volunteered to help run a 2 ½ hour space day for first and second
graders on their own time. The girls worked stations for the kids including creating mission
patches, eating astronaut ice cream, watching a video on the space shuttle, holding real lunar
rocks and writing a story about them, looking at lunar slides, and launching fizzy rockets. The
elementary students and the high school female students all greatly enjoyed the day.
Another reason I am taking flying lessons is to increase my chances of becoming an astronaut.
I made the top 100 teacher candidates cut-off and was told to better my application, I should
get my scuba certification and my pilot’s license. I now have achieved my scuba certification
and am still working on my pilot’s license. My goal is to at least get my instrument rating, and
maybe go as far as my CFI. I absolutely love to learn and love to fly. The two go hand in
hand. I also plan to take some Russian classes within the next year to better my chances. I
am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this goal. It is something I want to do not just
for myself, but my small, rural community. Also, no woman from Michigan has ever been hired
as an astronaut. I want to be the first. Going after goals and dreams was something that
was instilled in me by my mentor, my high school cross country coach. As a team, we set a
goal to win a state title. We worked extremely hard and ran many miles in the heat of the
summer. We paid the price in miles, time, and sweat. Achieving our goal of an undefeated
season, a league championship, a regional championship, and a state championship was very
eye opening for me. Since that moment in my life, I have believed that any goal in life I make
for myself is achievable and worth 100% of my effort.
I believe I would be a great mentor for Girls with Wings. Without my high school and college
cross country coaches, my flight instructor, and a few others who were my mentors, I would
not be where I am today. I would like to have the same impact on female students involved
with Girls With Wings. I have been very goal-oriented for much of my life and am not afraid to
really go after goals. Creating opportunities for my female students and talking to them about
their futures is something I have found very rewarding. I did not have someone who shared
opportunities that were available to me as a female when I was younger. It has been a
pleasure for me to build relationships with them and it is exciting to me to think about all the
possibilities they have before them. I will close with this last, powerful comment from one of
my student’s evaluations as a result of the airport fieldtrip:
“I thought that many math/science careers were a "male" thing. But that is stereotypical, and
woman can do just as well. Kathy and Theresa really proved that…. It really taught us that
anything we want to do, we can, if we want to be pilots, we can, if we want to be the chief
scientist at NASA, we can. The speakers made clear points that were well said. They showed
me that anything really is possible. They were great role models for us women.”
When I was about six years old, I remember standing outside in my front yard and looking at
the moon one, clear night. My dad came out and told me that some men had walked up there
and had put a United States flag on it. I used to go outside and look for the flag at night,
wondering if I would ever be able to see it. From that time on in my life, my eyes have been
focused skyward with wonder.
Today, I am a mathematics teacher at Milan High School in Milan, Michigan. I teach with that
same curious nature, mostly geometry courses, and have approximately 155 students per
year. I am not a typical teacher. I try to find new, creative approaches to make learning more
meaningful for my students. I have won some awards in recognition of my efforts including the
2005 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. I participate in
several professional development activities throughout the year, many at my own expense.
One of these professional experiences occurred in July 2002 and literally has changed my life.
I was at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for a workshop when Bob
Gabrys, Chief Education Officer, told my teacher group that NASA would again be accepting
teacher applications for the Astronaut Corps. My ears perked as he told us they would train
teachers to be full-fledged astronauts for a few years, let them travel into space, and then
return them to their classrooms to teach (that has since changed). After I returned home, I
checked the NASA website frequently for application updates and finally found the application
in the spring of 2003. I applied and the wait began. I received various letters and forms from
Washington and Houston frequently and was one of 100 teachers asked to get a flight
physical and fill out some extra health forms. I waited and hoped for nine months. Finally, the
letter came in which NASA thanked me for my application but informed me they had decided
not to select me. I was very disappointed, but know that all things happen for a reason.
Since then, because I made the top 200 teacher applicants, I was invited to be part of a group
called the Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers (NEAT). Being part of this group has
opened the doors of opportunity for me and my students in many ways. Through Network
regional workshops at Glenn Research Center, I have gained several resources to use in my
classroom. My students have built model rockets from NASA, learned about the space
program, have interacted with NASA lessons I have used in class, and heard NASA employees
speak on various topics.
It is through NASA that I realized how important it was to help my students learn about
careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In particular, for the last
few years, I have tried to find learning opportunities for female students who demonstrate
talent in the math courses I teach. In the spring of 2006, I planned a “field trip” to Glenn
Research Center in Cleveland, OH, where my students actually observed and interacted with a
test being performed in the Icing Research Tunnel. The scientists were studying the formation
of ice on the leading edge of a plane’s wing. The girls were there all day, but were particularly
thrilled to be able to go in the tunnel after the test, observe the formation of the ice, touch it,
talk to the lead scientist (also a female), and go on tours of other research facilities. Many
talked about that experience the rest of the school year and gave STEM careers much more
thought. This year, I took a few female students to a state Math and Science Symposium that
I was invited to through NASA. These girls mingled with leaders in math and science education
in Michigan and were asked for input. It was empowering to them and helped them realize
they could be leaders even though they were young women. One of my female students told
me about a science and math career day at Michigan State University and “thought it would be
a good opportunity for our girl group”. We jointly invited others and they had a great day
learning about several careers in the medical field and scientific research.
Because I love to fly and always wanted to take flying lessons, I decided to start flying in late
November 2006. I never dreamed that I would enjoy it as much as I have. My instructor has
said I am “seriously hooked”. I recently finished my solo cross country flights and am now
preparing for my written test, oral test, and check ride. It has been amazing to me to learn
about the connections flying has with the curriculum I teach. I have discussed several things I
have learned through my flying lessons with my students. For example, some of these include
how the center of gravity placement affects the choice of dihedral angle for the wings, runway
alignment compared to a compass, how to navigate, flying in the pattern, and several other
math related connections to flying. One particular flight I was able to share with students was
a trip I took last fall aboard the Zero G Boeing 727. The students listened with intense
curiosity and asked me several questions about my experience. We were able to discuss the
parabolas the plane performed and points on the parabolas where weightlessness and
several g’s occurred.
This past spring, I came up with the idea to bring 26 female students to the airport I fly out of
to hear my flight instructor and some females talk about their roles in aviation and space
exploration. One flight instructor was female, 25 years old, and teaching doctors how to fly.
The girls were fascinated by her and one of my students signed up to take flying lessons from
her that day. It has been a thrill for me to be in the role of a student, learning about flying, at
the same time as one of my students. Another person the students were fascinated by was
Dr. Kathy Clark, former Chief Scientist for Space Exploration at NASA in Washington DC. The
students were completely drawn to Kathy and what she had accomplished as a female
scientist. When we came back to school, all the girls were telling their friends about Kathy, as
if she were the latest rock star. It was great to be able to provide the girls with this
experience! In one of my students’ evaluation about the airport trip, she said, “This field trip
obviously opened my mind about flying, and I am really excited that I will be taking flying
lessons…The speakers were very inspiring and informative and everything was very well
planned and organized. I learned a lot throughout that day and I loved it. This was a great
field trip, and I hope that you continue doing things like this for your students. All of the field
trips and activities that you have planned have been so great and they are opportunities that
most people would have never had without you doing so.” This statement and many others
similar to it inspire me to keep building relationships and creating opportunities, especially for
my female students, so that they can see they have so many options in aviation, space
exploration, and other STEM careers. It is a lot of fun for me to watch my students experience
the wonder of flight, whether it is related to a Cessna 152 or a space shuttle.
About half of these girls volunteered to help run a 2 ½ hour space day for first and second
graders on their own time. The girls worked stations for the kids including creating mission
patches, eating astronaut ice cream, watching a video on the space shuttle, holding real lunar
rocks and writing a story about them, looking at lunar slides, and launching fizzy rockets. The
elementary students and the high school female students all greatly enjoyed the day.
Another reason I am taking flying lessons is to increase my chances of becoming an astronaut.
I made the top 100 teacher candidates cut-off and was told to better my application, I should
get my scuba certification and my pilot’s license. I now have achieved my scuba certification
and am still working on my pilot’s license. My goal is to at least get my instrument rating, and
maybe go as far as my CFI. I absolutely love to learn and love to fly. The two go hand in
hand. I also plan to take some Russian classes within the next year to better my chances. I
am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this goal. It is something I want to do not just
for myself, but my small, rural community. Also, no woman from Michigan has ever been hired
as an astronaut. I want to be the first. Going after goals and dreams was something that
was instilled in me by my mentor, my high school cross country coach. As a team, we set a
goal to win a state title. We worked extremely hard and ran many miles in the heat of the
summer. We paid the price in miles, time, and sweat. Achieving our goal of an undefeated
season, a league championship, a regional championship, and a state championship was very
eye opening for me. Since that moment in my life, I have believed that any goal in life I make
for myself is achievable and worth 100% of my effort.
I believe I would be a great mentor for Girls with Wings. Without my high school and college
cross country coaches, my flight instructor, and a few others who were my mentors, I would
not be where I am today. I would like to have the same impact on female students involved
with Girls With Wings. I have been very goal-oriented for much of my life and am not afraid to
really go after goals. Creating opportunities for my female students and talking to them about
their futures is something I have found very rewarding. I did not have someone who shared
opportunities that were available to me as a female when I was younger. It has been a
pleasure for me to build relationships with them and it is exciting to me to think about all the
possibilities they have before them. I will close with this last, powerful comment from one of
my student’s evaluations as a result of the airport fieldtrip:
“I thought that many math/science careers were a "male" thing. But that is stereotypical, and
woman can do just as well. Kathy and Theresa really proved that…. It really taught us that
anything we want to do, we can, if we want to be pilots, we can, if we want to be the chief
scientist at NASA, we can. The speakers made clear points that were well said. They showed
me that anything really is possible. They were great role models for us women.”
