FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 27, 2017 • KIDS & EDUCATION • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
kids & education
Students speak with NASA expert
about Mars in Richmond Hill
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
agiudice@qns.com
@A_GiudiceReport
Is there life on Mars? Th at 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).
Th rough 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.
Th ey 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.
“Th is 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
Photo by Anthony Giudice/QNS
the fi ft h grade, said.
Th e free program for students runs
both during the summer and as an aft erschool
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.
Photo caption: The students at the One Stop Richmond Hill Community Center who got to chat with Michael Hare from NASA about Mars.