WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (June 30, 2022) - Students from the Colonel Alvin Drew Space Academy organized by the General Lloyd 'Fig' Newton Chapter, Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., visited White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) on June 27. The students are middle and high schoolers, and the camp's goal is to get them excited about studying and having a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
Jim Sauer and his team from the Tuskegee Airmen have hosted this event for about seven years and went virtual for the last two years due to COVID-19. This was their first visit to WSMR since 2019.
“Our students voiced the desire to have the experience of visiting more sites in person," said Sauer. "More specifically, they wanted a better understanding about what happens at WSMR.”
WMSR had a full day of activities planned for students beginning with learning the history of rockets and space. Museum Specialist Jen Jett educated and personally guided them to see the V-2 Rocket, the Missile Park, and the Army Blockhouse. These sites all pertain to the critical part WSMR played in ushering the U.S. into the space age.
“It was great getting the students out to these sites,” said Sauer. “Numerous students often repeated that it is so good to be back to doing in-person learning.”
The students met with the White Sands Missile Range Chief of Staff, Patrick Curran. He provided information on present-day activities and insight into the type of jobs that White Sands offers for STEM professionals. He also assured the students that even if they do not become engineers, there are still plenty of career opportunities at the installation beyond STEM.
Two Test Officers from the Air and Space Branch at WSMR provided their real-life accounts and experiences working on the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. Kristian Ramirez and Olivia McBride presented an overview of their duties and gave the kids a tour of the facility that houses the prototypes for the Starliner capsule.
“It was a great time to show these future scientists and engineers the exciting and interesting things we do here at White Sands Missile Range. I'm truly happy for this opportunity and hope this helped inspire their potential career path to pursue in the future,” said McBride, who has been working at WSMR for three months and is a recent New Mexico State University industrial engineer graduate.
Despite being a recent graduate, McBride, was heavily involved in NASA and Boeing's Orbital Flight Test-2 project. She was on-site when the Starliner landed at WSMR on May 25. Sharing her accounts of watching the Starliner spacecraft land in person demonstrated to the students the types of experiences a career in engineering can offer.
The students also learned firsthand how mathematics and science merge from meteorologist Gail Vaucher, who works for the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Lab that is based on the installation. Vaucher also joined the students on their tour of the Meteorology Building, making math and science come to life.
The Chief of the White Sands Test Center Meteorology Branch, Matthew R. Walter, led the students’ tour of the Meteorology Building. The students ended the day learning about wind measuring equipment and watched the forecasters as they worked on predicting the weather.
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