34 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • AUGUST 13, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Future astronauts, engineers graduate from summer program
BY JASMINE PALMA
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Eighty students participating in
the second annual LaGuardia Airport
Redevelopment Summer STEM Program
graduated during a remote ceremony on
Friday. Th e ceremony featured Queens
native and retired NASA Astronaut Ellen
Baker.
Middle school students from East
Elmhurst enrolled in the three-week program
Bowne House Historical Society receives grants to support programs
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
During an extraordinarily challenging
year for cultural institutions worldwide,
the Bowne House Historical Society
in Flushing — one of the oldest and
most historic houses in New York City
— received funding to continue developing
programs, care for its renowned collections
and retain its staff educators and
research professionals.
Bowne House was awarded a COVID-
19 emergency relief grant from New York
Humanities to supplement day-to-day
general operating funds.
Th e loss of income from tours and public
programs severely handicapped museums
throughout the world and the New
York Humanities award has helped reduce
the impact of fi nancial loss for Bowne
House.
New York Community Trust is supporting
staff retention during the pandemic
allowing Bowne House to employ its educators
and research stafft hroughout 2020. Th is
insures that website content will continue to
bedeveloped and new tours for visitors of
all ages will be featured once BowneHouse
is allowed to reopen to the public.
Additionally, Greater Hudson Heritage
Network is supporting adendrochronology
survey of 18th- and 19th-century wooden
objects in the museum’scollections to
determine age and provenance.
Dendrochronology, the science, or technique,
of dating a wooden object by examining
the characteristic patterns of annual
growth rings in timber and tree trunks,
is widely used by museums to arrive at
accurate dating for furniture and decorative
art objects.
Th e results of the survey will allow
museum interpreters to provide newinformation
to scholars and the visiting
public.
“Th e Bowne House is thrilled to have
the timely and generous support of these
grantors in support of our educational
programs highlighting three centuries of
Queens and New York history and their
roles in shaping American values,” said
Rosemary Vietor, vice president of Bowne
House. “During this time, with help from
these grants, we have developed virtual
tours and programs in addition tomaterials
that will be available when we reopen.”
Bowne House is inviting the public to
a virtual Sacred Sites weekend on Aug.
8 and 9, off ered by the Bowne House
Historical Society in conjunction with the
New York Landmarks Conservancy.
Courtesy of Bowne House
Sacred Sites Open House allows visitors
to explore the wonderful art, architecture
and history of New York’s diverse
religious sites.
Researcher Kate Lynch will virtually
present a slideshow on “Flushing’sFirst
Quakers: Th e Bowne House, Th e Fox
Oaks and theFriends Meeting House.”
Th e Bowne House, built circa 1661, is
the oldest house in Queens and second
oldest in New York City and state. It was
built by John Bowne, who emigrated from
England to Boston in 1649 and eventually
settled in Flushing while New York was
under Dutch rule.
Th e Bowne House is a New York City
Landmark and is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. For early
Quakers, it was a place to gather to worship
for over thirty years, even aft er John
Bowne’s arrest for allowing the meetings
and his successful defense, making it one
of the oldest places to worship in the state.
For further information about the
Bowne House, email offi ce@bownehouse.
org.
participated in virtual STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics)
activities oriented toward aviation.
Students studied topics related to
planes, rockets, weather, kites, satellites,
climate change and sustainable energy,
among others. Each lesson involved an
interactive hands-on activity for students
to engage in.
Fatima Calderon and her son, Diego
Torres, 13, of Jackson Heights, said the
program came at the most opportune
time since summer activities have been
largely limited due to the pandemic.
“As a parent, the program was really
helpful to keep our children busy over
the summer when we didn’t have outside
activities due to COVID,” Calderon said.
“Th e STEM program wasn’t just about sitting
in front of a computer. It was very
project-heavy with lots of hands-on activities,
actually doing work. As a parent, I
really appreciated that.”
Meanwhile, Torres said that he can now
fathom a career in aviation, something he
had not considered prior to the program.
“I really enjoyed the program,
it was a lot of fun,” said Torres,
a student at I.S. 145. “I didn’t
know how cool space was
and I didn’t know how fl ying
airplanes was so cool.”
Baker, who went to
Bayside High School,
revered the kids’ involvement,
calling them the “scientists,
engineers and problem
solvers of the future.”
“What you’ve done
in showing an
interest in science
and technology
and engineering
and math puts
you in a good
position to
continue your
e d u c a t i o n
and … be the
problem solvers
of the future,” Baker told the graduating
members.
Baker earned a bachelor of arts degree in
geology from the State University of New
York at Buff alo, later attaining her doctorate
of medicine degree from Cornell
University. She then pursued training in
internal medicine at the University of
Texas Health Science Center.
She joined NASA following her residency
in 1981 as a medical offi cer at the
Johnson Space Center. Baker was selected
as an astronaut in 1984, logging more
than 686 hours in space.
She off ered refl ections on her success
in STEM to the graduates, having been
aboard the space shuttle three times
in her fl ights to space.
“I never thought in a million
years that I would become an
astronaut when I was a little
kid growing up in Queens. I
am living proof that opportunities
will present themselves
that you can’t even imagine
now,” she said.
Despite her accomplishments,
she shared one of her regrets
with the kids. “Quite
honestly, I wanted
to play baseball
for the New York
Yankees and it’s
still a bitter disappoi
ntment
that I never got
the chance!”
S p o n s o r e d
by the Port
Authority, Delta
Airlines and the LaGuardia Gateway
Partners, the program works in conjunction
with Langston Hughes Library and
Cultural Center in East Elmhurst, and the
Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden
City.
“Th e students, who share an interest in
aviation, were thrilled to hear from a former
NASA astronaut, who had literally
reached the ultimate height of her profession
by fl ying into space on three separate
missions. Th ey were inspired by
the fact that like them, Ellen Baker had
grown up in Queens and attended public
schools before going to college and medical
school,” said a spokesman for the Port
Authority.
Th e STEM program, along with the
scholarships to Vaughn College off ered to
students from Queens, is an ongoing initiative
with the intent to invest in students
in nearing communities of LaGuardia airport
in order to foster interest in careers
in aviation, science and technology,
according to a spokesperson for the program.
Queens is a hub for aviation-related
employment, having 96 percent of New
York City’s air transportation jobs.
“Our summer STEM program and our
scholarships in partnership with Vaughn
College are important investments by the
Port Authority as we help to inspire the
next generation of leaders in aviation,” said
Port Authority Executive Director Rick
Cotton. “As we continue to invest in the
transformation of LaGuardia Airport into
a 21st-century facility, we look forward
to seeing talented students from nearby
neighborhoods in Queens use opportunities
like these to fi nd exciting careers in aviation,
and at the Port Authority.”
Other speakers were featured in the ceremony,
including Queens Public Library
President and CEO Dennis Walcott;
Shakira Smalls, executive director of the
Queens Public Library; Huntley Lawrence,
director of Aviation at the Port Authority;
Ryan Marzullo, Delta Airlines’ managing
director of New York Construction;
Stewart Steeves, CEO LaGuardia Gateway
Partners; and Ines Jihon, bilingual education
coordinator of the Cradle of Aviation
Museum, who led the online instruction.
Queens Borough President Sharon Lee
and Assemblyman Jeff rion Aubrey also
off ered their greetings.
Photo courtesy of LaGuardia Airport
Redevelopment Summer STEM Program
Astronaut Ellen Baker spoke to graduates of LaGuardia
Airport’s summer STEM program.
Courtesy of Bowne House
The Bowne House Historical Society in Flushing
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