WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JULY 27, 2017 15
KIDS & EDUCATION
Students speak with NASA expert
about Mars in Richmond Hill
Photo caption: The students at the One Stop Richmond Hill Community Center who got to chat with Michael Hare from NASA about Mars.
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
Is there life on Mars? That question
remains unclear, but there is a NASA
rover roaming the red planet, and
some Queens kids got a chance to learn
more about it.
Students from around Queens who
are enrolled in the One Stop Richmond
Hill Community Center’s Computer
Technology Videoconferencing Program
got the chance to learn about
Mars and what the future holds in
discovering more about our nearest
solar neighbor, from an educational
specialist at the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA).
Through a teleconference video
call with Michael Hare, education/
production specialist at NASA’s Digital
Learning Network who is stationed at
the Johnson Space Center in Houston,
TX, on July 20 (the 48th anniversary
of the Moon landing), the children
learned about NASA’s previous missions
to Mars and how the landers and
rovers that have been sent there over
the years got there.
They also got to learn more about
how the rovers and landers gather
information about the planet, and NASA’s
future plans for sending rovers,
and eventually astronauts, to Mars.
“This really gives them an opportunity
to open vistas, expand their
horizons,” said Neme Alperstein,
co-founder of the Computer Technology
Videoconferencing Program. “It
transcends geographic boundaries.
It’s live, interactive and in real time,
which means it involves the participation
and engagement of the child,
not just as a passive learner, but as
someone who engages with an expert
in space science.”
Aft er giving his presentation, Hare
opened the fl oor to allow the kids to
ask questions that they prepared beforehand
through extensive research.
During this time, the children asked
Hare questions ranging from Mars’
gravity, to if water has been discovered
on the Red Planet.
“I learned about the diff erent rovers
on Mars, how they were built, and
that they’re still there,” said Melanie
who will be going into fi ft h grade in
September.
“I learned that Mars actually has an
atmosphere,” Cole, who will be entering
the fi ft h grade, said.
Photo by Anthony Giudice/Ridgewood Times
The free program for students
runs both during the summer and as
an aft er-school program during the
school year, said Simcha Waisman,
president of the One Stop Richmond
Hill Community Center located at 110-
08 Jamaica Ave.
“We help kids to open their minds
to the future and see what is available
to them,” Waisman added. “We
want to give them much more vision
and understanding of science and
technology.”
Waisman has been running the
Computer Technology Videoconferencing
Program at the community
center for 16 years, and participants
have been involved with video conference
calls with other NASA experts as
well as astronauts on the International
Space Station.
