Teacher blasting off to space camp

Cathi Olsen, a fourth-grade teacher at West Point Elementary in Davis District, will be doing the moon-walk next week — not the one where you glide backwards across a stage, but the actual weightless trot that astronauts do in in the absence of gravity.

Olsen is one of only three teachers nationwide awarded a scholarship to attend the Air Force Association's Space Camp. She was selected from a pool of 1,400 teachers for the camp and will also be joining 30 students from all over the country.

Last spring Olsen's class submitted essays on what astronaut they would like to meet and what they would like to learn from them. They also created mission patches for the contest.

Though none of her students was selected, Olsen was awarded a $1,600 scholarship to attend the camp along with a $700 grant to bring space to the classroom.

At the camp Olsen will get to sample jet fighter simulators, astronaut training, state-of-the-art space and weightless simulations, rocket building, learning robotics and survival training.

She said the teachers will also learn how to bring space into the classrooms and will receive new lesson plans.

"I hope to just be able to give (my students) an excitement for the universe around them and the things that they can do," Olsen said. "It's amazing the things that we can do — it's amazing that we can go to space — and I want to get them get excited about that and know that knowledge is power and because of people learning we are able to do these things."

She will also be given instructional software and equipment that will allow the entire school to conduct space experiments and simulations directly from school grounds.

U.S. Space Camp was founded in 1982 by NASA to promote the study of math, science and technology. Its educational programs couple classroom instruction with hands-on activities and teach teamwork, decision-making and leadership skills.

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