Rockets will be soaring above campus during West Virginia State University’s fifth annual NASA Day celebration on July 1. Officials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), along with WVSU staff, partners, and over 400 youth will gather for the daylong event.
The day’s activities allow the youth to learn about engineering and science, then put that knowledge to practical use through interactive activities, including creating their own bottle rockets.
NASA Day was developed in 2005 with the mission of encouraging youth to pursue careers in the STEM areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“We want these kids to consider the sciences as a career; perhaps even become astronauts!” said Dedriell Taylor, assistant director of WVSU’s Center for the Advancement of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (CASTEM), which hosts the celebration.
“NASA Day is a great opportunity for all the students who are involved,” added Jess White, Student Outreach Program Manager with the NASA IV&V Facility. “The number one thing they’re going to get here is career awareness. Hopefully they will be inspired to pursue careers in the STEM areas when they go to college.”
This year’s NASA Day keynote speaker will be one of WV’s own, the 2009 nation’s top science teacher Edward Evans. In addition, officials from NASA IV&V Facility in Fairmont, WV, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, and the Langley Space Flight Center in Hampton, VA, will be present at the day’s event.
All activities for the day take place on WVSU’s campus and begin at 9am in the Davis Hall Auditorium. The interactive afternoon of science experiments, rocket launching, CASTEM’s Star Lab, and WV Star Base presentations begins at 12:30 pm in the Wilson Student Union.
For more information, contact Dedriell Taylor at (304) 237-8218
or email at dtaylor11@wvstateu.edu.
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