REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Lessons from the classroom came to life Oct. 23 for ninth- and 10th-graders at Ardmore High School, as they paid a visit to Redstone Arsenal to learn more about the career opportunities and work that is done at Redstone Test Center and Marshall Space Flight Center.
"Not everything is white shirts and pocket protectors," Doug Miller, the division chief for the Component and Surveillance Test Division at Redstone Test Center, joked.
Students toured the Component and Surveillance Test Division within RTC's Environmental & Comp Test Directorate, giving them a glimpse at the ways STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- are used to support the war fighter. The division not only supports Soldiers through failure analysis of helicopters and other heavy tactical equipment, but also works to find ways to extend or shorten life of critical aircraft parts.
"This gives you the opportunity to learn a little bit about how science, engineering and multiple disciplines are applied in the real world today," Miller said.
At Marshall, students visited the Payload Operations Integration Center, which manages all the science done aboard the International Space Station, and the Flight Robotics Lab.
"It's really important for us to get students on Redstone and show them what we are working on and how cool it is," said Megan Gully with the Garrison, who helped organize the event. "Redstone is a great asset in terms of how STEM correlates to future careers, so we love to host groups and watch them connect the dots between their science class and space exploration. Most of the time students didn't even know that these type of career existed."
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