Have you ever gone into space, Mr. Konichek?
Here’s my space story:
When I started at SPASH (Stevens Point Area Senior High School), in 1996-1997 school year, I had already taught 4 years in a small High School (Pittsville H.S.) and 16 years in a Parochial Catholic High School (Assumption High School) but was at the bottom of experience at SPASH. For this reason, I was told that I would be teaching an Astronomy Class 2nd Semester. I had taken one Astronomy course in college and they told me that any science teaching certification was legally OK for teaching Astronomy. I looked in on the current top chemistry in the nation, teaching Astronomy, 1st semester and noticed that the dozen students didn’t seem to enthused with the course; so, when the teacher gave me his Astronomy teaching notes, I didn’t even want to look at them; instead, as a Christian, I did what I always do; I prayed that the Lord would use me to make Astronomy a course that students would enjoy learning things that would aid them for the rest of their lives.
Soon after that, my 4th grade daughter asked if she could go to Space Camp. I had never heard of it but checked it out and signed her up to join 300+ other students her age in Titusville, Florida (where the Astronaut Hall of Fame is). My wife (God Bless Her!) suggested I see if they had a Teachers Space Camp and they had room for me so my daughter and I did our classes the same week and once in awhile ran into each other.
The reason I’m starting out this way is that I told the other classmates about wanting ideas to build a great Astronomy class and they suggested I go out to Colorado Springs where there existed a Space Foundation with three courses; and they said that I could tour N.O.R.A.D. built in Cheyanne Mt. during the Cold War and still operating to this day.
The Space Foundation at the time had three courses named Easy, Medium and Advanced so being a Math & Physics double major I thought I’d take the medium class first. Well, NORAD was not in the syllabus for the medium class as only the Advanced Class toured NORAD. So, the next year I returned for the Advanced Space Class and since they continued adding courses each year, I continued returning and taking the classes. Some of the classes I even took a 2nd time as they were totally different the next time, I took them. Before long, I was teaching the Astronomy class at the Air Force Academy (they had empty classrooms in the summers that they allowed the Space Foundation to use).
The Astronomy class at SPASH got so popular that 296 students were taking the course each year (up from about 36 students each year). The popularity of the Astronomy curriculum is another story in itself as this is a story of how close I’ve been to going into space.
In March of 2003, I received a phone call, during the day, at my desk. I hardly ever got a phone call and very seldom spent time at my desk but when I answered, I heard a voice say, “This is NASA, and we are calling to ask if you would be willing to represent all the high school teachers on a special BLUE-RIBBON PANEL with the task of writing the criteria for the next TEACHER IN SPACE program. I asked them what a BLUE-RIBBON panel was, and they replied, “This BLUE-RIBBON panel will consist of the top K-16 Professional Teachers in the USA. An elementary teacher, a junior high teacher, a principal, a school board member, a superintendent of a school district, a chancellor of a University, a Challenger Space facility teacher and the PHD space professor that was also chosen by NASA to lead your group, will be your panel.
Then I asked what it meant to write the criteria for the next teacher in space, and NASA replied, “Your BLUE-RIBBON PANEL has to find what characteristics the top teacher in the world would have as we will use your findings to decide which of the 750+ teachers, that we already whittled down from over a thousand teacher applicants, to chose the top two teachers to train to be Astronauts so they can teach from the International Space Station.”
I informed NASA that I had to ask my wife who said that I had to attend my daughter’s high school graduation and help with her party AND show up a month later for my mother’s 80th birthday party. So, I called NASA back and informed them that I’d only do the job if they granted those two times off and paid for all those flights. NASA accepted so it started with telephone conferences until early June when my High School let me leave early (got me a substitute) to do this (then secret) job for NASA. I felt like James Bond, as I had my homework for the Blue-Ribbon Panel in a briefcase and worked on it in the airports as I traveled.
Why I was close to going into space was the NASA group that used our criteria to pick the two top teachers in the world, said to me personally, “You are just a little too old, as we’d, for sure, have picked you to go into space as a teacher.”
In the top 50 chosen from our criteria, NASA chose two and then made the remaining 48 Flight 1-2004 Teacher Liaisons for the Space Foundation. The Space Foundation called me early in 2005 to say that I was picked to be in the class of Flight 2-05 Space Foundation Teacher Liaisons without filling out all the forms and having a professional panel pick the top ones from (as they do to this day. This year the Flight 17-22 class was chosen.)
One of the advantages of being a Teacher Liaison is we get to attend the annual National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs for free. We even get the Monday set aside for teacher workshops at the Discovery Center where we meet with all the Teacher Liaisons that attend and get to meet the new inductees.
I am still a Space Foundation Teacher Liaison and when people ask me what class, I say, “Well, the Space Foundation New Young Staff would say Flight 2-05 but I’m actually Flight 0-03 because I was a member of the Blue-Ribbon Panel chosen by NASA to write the Criteria for the Next Teacher IN Space Program and that criteria was used to choose class Flight 1-04.
Being a teacher liaison for the space foundation, is one of the reasons that I run the HW Stargazers as I have so much experience with Space, Astronomy and the night sky that it would be a sin to waste all that knowledge and just keep it to myself. Just like the saying, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” I believe that, it is true, “Once a great teacher, always a great teacher.” I do believe the Lord has given me insights to teach difficult concepts in a unique, understandable to everyone, way and continues to do so. It would be a waste not to use my God given gifts.
As you read though the answers to many of these questions, many of the questions, you cannot find the answers to, anywhere on the cloud.
When I started at SPASH (Stevens Point Area Senior High School), in 1996-1997 school year, I had already taught 4 years in a small High School (Pittsville H.S.) and 16 years in a Parochial Catholic High School (Assumption High School) but was at the bottom of experience at SPASH. For this reason, I was told that I would be teaching an Astronomy Class 2nd Semester. I had taken one Astronomy course in college and they told me that any science teaching certification was legally OK for teaching Astronomy. I looked in on the current top chemistry in the nation, teaching Astronomy, 1st semester and noticed that the dozen students didn’t seem to enthused with the course; so, when the teacher gave me his Astronomy teaching notes, I didn’t even want to look at them; instead, as a Christian, I did what I always do; I prayed that the Lord would use me to make Astronomy a course that students would enjoy learning things that would aid them for the rest of their lives.
Soon after that, my 4th grade daughter asked if she could go to Space Camp. I had never heard of it but checked it out and signed her up to join 300+ other students her age in Titusville, Florida (where the Astronaut Hall of Fame is). My wife (God Bless Her!) suggested I see if they had a Teachers Space Camp and they had room for me so my daughter and I did our classes the same week and once in awhile ran into each other.
The reason I’m starting out this way is that I told the other classmates about wanting ideas to build a great Astronomy class and they suggested I go out to Colorado Springs where there existed a Space Foundation with three courses; and they said that I could tour N.O.R.A.D. built in Cheyanne Mt. during the Cold War and still operating to this day.
The Space Foundation at the time had three courses named Easy, Medium and Advanced so being a Math & Physics double major I thought I’d take the medium class first. Well, NORAD was not in the syllabus for the medium class as only the Advanced Class toured NORAD. So, the next year I returned for the Advanced Space Class and since they continued adding courses each year, I continued returning and taking the classes. Some of the classes I even took a 2nd time as they were totally different the next time, I took them. Before long, I was teaching the Astronomy class at the Air Force Academy (they had empty classrooms in the summers that they allowed the Space Foundation to use).
The Astronomy class at SPASH got so popular that 296 students were taking the course each year (up from about 36 students each year). The popularity of the Astronomy curriculum is another story in itself as this is a story of how close I’ve been to going into space.
In March of 2003, I received a phone call, during the day, at my desk. I hardly ever got a phone call and very seldom spent time at my desk but when I answered, I heard a voice say, “This is NASA, and we are calling to ask if you would be willing to represent all the high school teachers on a special BLUE-RIBBON PANEL with the task of writing the criteria for the next TEACHER IN SPACE program. I asked them what a BLUE-RIBBON panel was, and they replied, “This BLUE-RIBBON panel will consist of the top K-16 Professional Teachers in the USA. An elementary teacher, a junior high teacher, a principal, a school board member, a superintendent of a school district, a chancellor of a University, a Challenger Space facility teacher and the PHD space professor that was also chosen by NASA to lead your group, will be your panel.
Then I asked what it meant to write the criteria for the next teacher in space, and NASA replied, “Your BLUE-RIBBON PANEL has to find what characteristics the top teacher in the world would have as we will use your findings to decide which of the 750+ teachers, that we already whittled down from over a thousand teacher applicants, to chose the top two teachers to train to be Astronauts so they can teach from the International Space Station.”
I informed NASA that I had to ask my wife who said that I had to attend my daughter’s high school graduation and help with her party AND show up a month later for my mother’s 80th birthday party. So, I called NASA back and informed them that I’d only do the job if they granted those two times off and paid for all those flights. NASA accepted so it started with telephone conferences until early June when my High School let me leave early (got me a substitute) to do this (then secret) job for NASA. I felt like James Bond, as I had my homework for the Blue-Ribbon Panel in a briefcase and worked on it in the airports as I traveled.
Why I was close to going into space was the NASA group that used our criteria to pick the two top teachers in the world, said to me personally, “You are just a little too old, as we’d, for sure, have picked you to go into space as a teacher.”
In the top 50 chosen from our criteria, NASA chose two and then made the remaining 48 Flight 1-2004 Teacher Liaisons for the Space Foundation. The Space Foundation called me early in 2005 to say that I was picked to be in the class of Flight 2-05 Space Foundation Teacher Liaisons without filling out all the forms and having a professional panel pick the top ones from (as they do to this day. This year the Flight 17-22 class was chosen.)
One of the advantages of being a Teacher Liaison is we get to attend the annual National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs for free. We even get the Monday set aside for teacher workshops at the Discovery Center where we meet with all the Teacher Liaisons that attend and get to meet the new inductees.
I am still a Space Foundation Teacher Liaison and when people ask me what class, I say, “Well, the Space Foundation New Young Staff would say Flight 2-05 but I’m actually Flight 0-03 because I was a member of the Blue-Ribbon Panel chosen by NASA to write the Criteria for the Next Teacher IN Space Program and that criteria was used to choose class Flight 1-04.
Being a teacher liaison for the space foundation, is one of the reasons that I run the HW Stargazers as I have so much experience with Space, Astronomy and the night sky that it would be a sin to waste all that knowledge and just keep it to myself. Just like the saying, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” I believe that, it is true, “Once a great teacher, always a great teacher.” I do believe the Lord has given me insights to teach difficult concepts in a unique, understandable to everyone, way and continues to do so. It would be a waste not to use my God given gifts.
As you read though the answers to many of these questions, many of the questions, you cannot find the answers to, anywhere on the cloud.