3…2…1…Lift Off For New School

by Josh Polandj.poland@krdo.comFollow me on twitter @ www.twitter.com/joshpoland

COLORADO SPRINGS – A new District-11 middle school is hoping its students shoot for the stars…literally. What else would you expect from a school with the name Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy.

“I would like to see one day that a student from this particular school be the man or woman that lands on Mars,” says D-11 Superintendent Nicholas Gledich.

Plans for the school began last October whenD-11 and the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation began talking about ways to revitalize Emerson Middle School. What they came up with was Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy–named in honor of Colorado native and astronaut John L. “Jack” Swigert, who served on NASA’s Apollo 7 and Apollo 13 missions.

Signs of space are all over the school’s campus from an authentic space suit to rocket launches and a Discovery Institute that will open later in the school year. The Discovery Institute will hold laboratories such as a simulated mission control.

It’s a one-of-a-kind set-up where the space foundation will supply both curriculum and staff members to the school.

“It’s the first that we’re aware of that co-locates our experts on the campus with the students and teachers,” says Space Foundation CEO Elliot Pulham.

But space won’t be the final frontier for these students. The goal is to get them excited about their studies–especially science and technology.

“TheUnited Stateshas been lagging in graduating students who have good science, technology and math skills,”says Pulham.”So our goal here is to have students of D-11 come out of their education experience ready for college, ready for high technology and ready to lead in the new economy.”