Teacher has ‘Wright stuff’ for space
Published 9:01 pm Monday, April 2, 2012
It’s no different for a big kid to go to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., as will Edwardsburg Public Schools eighth-grade earth science teacher Robert Wright on June 15-21.
“I’m so excited,” said Wright, 39, who has taught 12 years for Edwardsburg. “I’ve been wanting to go to space camp since I was a little kid growing up in Cassopolis. I’ve applied the last couple of years. You’re not competing against 200 American teachers, but the entire world. Each year, I have new experiences to add, like hunting geodes with my family.”
Geodes are spherical masses of mineral matter deposited in rock formations.
Created in partnership with the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in 2004, the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program is designed to help teachers move beyond standard math and science curriculum with supplemental teaching techniques developed through real-life astronaut training.
Wright, LaGrange Township supervisor, will be among approximately 200 teachers participating with the Class of 2012 and joining a network of more than 1,650 graduates from 45 countries and all 50 states.
Hands-on learning reinvigorates their lesson plans of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in classrooms around the globe, enhancing their ability to inspire the next generation of leaders.
Honeywell Educators participate in 45 hours of professional development, as well as an intensive educator curriculum focused on space science and exploration. Activities include classroom, laboratory and field training exercises linked to U.S. science and math teaching standards.
Each teacher also undergoes real-life astronaut training, including a high-performance jet simulation, scenario-based space missions, land and water survival training and state-of-the-art flight dynamics programs.
Each Honeywell Educator receives a full scholarship including tuition for the six-day program, round-trip airfare, meals, accommodations and program materials, all underwritten by Honeywell and its employees.
“One of the things I saw on the website was parachuting from a disabled helicopter into a pool,” the 1991 Ross Beatty High School graduate said.
Wright, who is also a Southwestern Michigan College graduate, teaches Cassopolis driver training, so his trip will delay that a week.
He and his wife, Tonya, who teaches sixth grade math at Edwardsburg Middle School, both attended Central Michigan University. He earned his master’s degree from Grand Valley State University.
“I got hired the day before I got married and my wife got hired when we got back from our honeymoon,” he said. The Wrights have two sons, Brady, 5, in kindergarten, and Michael, 3.
“They think I’m going to the moon,” he said. Actually, he already tried that and has been certified to handle moon rocks. “I actually applied through NASA nine years ago. I made three of the seven cuts for the new teacher in space program. I’ve been interested in space since ‘Star Wars’ at 4 or 5 years old. Things I do in my classes for 210 students with rocketry and technology fit this. About 2003, I contacted NASA and we had an astronaut come to Edwardsburg. Moon ‘rocks’ come in a James Bond suitcase with a handcuff, but they’re shavings in Lucite.”
Wright thought Dowagiac Middle School Co-Principal Matt Severin’s BalloonSats project preparing payloads for high-altitude balloons launched into near space by a University of Kansas doctoral candidate “was so cool I showed that to my class. That makes an impact on students.”
“When we go somewhere as a family, we try to do something science-related,” Wright said.
Last summer that meant gathering the geode crystals cracked open in class. This week, spring break, “We’ll probably go hit a museum in Chicago. Brady is having science experiments at his birthday party.”
Wright also coaches, including Dowagiac youth soccer. He coaches football at school and Little League and tee ball in Edwardsburg.
He has also coached basketball and track. Middle school “is the perfect age for me, an opportunity to make a big impact when kids are kind of at a fork in the road. They can go down a bad road to high school or get on a good path.”
He comes from a family of teachers. His father taught and coached basketball in Cassopolis for more than 30 years. A younger brother teaches for Edwardsburg. Rob’s sister-in-law also teaches.