Higher Orbits Foundation

Space Inspires! We believe that while not every student will want to be an astronaut or a rocket scientist that space is an incredible way to ignite student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM), as well as to further their skills in Leadership, Teamwork and Communication. 

 

www.higherorbits.org

Our flagship program is Go For Launch!  

www.GoForLaunch.space

Go For Launch! is a 3-day program (8 hours each day) that uses Space Exploration as a platform to launch student involvement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM),  STEAM (Art), teamwork, communication, and leadership. This program is is targeted at students grades 8-12.

Students are immersed in the wonder of Spaceflight through a variety of talks delivered by experts in the fields of space & STEM: such speakers have included an astronaut, former International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle Flight Controllers, Astronaut Instructors, scientists, and engineers. Students get insight and feedback from experienced space and STEM professionals whose goals are to illustrate the numerous possibilities that exist in the world of STEM. A unique facet of Go For Launch! is that the students will work with an astronaut for at least two - if not all three -days of the event.

 

Broken into teams, students will work together for the entire event. Nearly every talk features collaborative activity, before or after, where team members must work together to complete tasks for daily awards. These tasks are designed to build leadership and teamwork skills, as well as enhance team communication. The culminating exercise is a design project.  Each team must define and design a space experiment.  At the conclusion of each program, the teams will present their ideas to a panel of judges from the Space & STEM fields, who will then choose a winner from each Go For Launch! event. There are several events in a division and the overal division winning experiment will actually launch into space to the International Space Station!

I have been a space geek my whole life and love to share my passion with students to open their eyes to the universe of possibilities that exist.