On the Horizon: If you build it, they will become it

Every year the Oklahoma Aerospace Alliance puts on a summit to showcase aerospace in Oklahoma. As part of that summit, they have an educator’s day to bring together local educators, industry, and government to create the aerospace workforce of tomorrow. They want to make Oklahoma the global aerospace destination of the world. This year they did things a little differently and I believe it just might work.

They brought the teachers in and gave them hands-on instruction on how to teach students and peak their interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). It was definitely a fun-filled day. While there, I saw teachers laughing, crying out in amazement, discussing new ways of teaching, and really enjoying the learning process themselves. Many can’t wait to take what they learned back to their classrooms to see just how much their students will enjoy learning this way too.

I wished I could have had this type of instruction when I was growing up. Who knows, I might have gone into engineering or maybe science (math was definitely out because I simply don’t do very well other than basic math). Technology is as close as I come currently to anything in the STEM fields but I might have given other areas a harder look if I’d know just how much fun they could be.

In this week’s video blog, see how local teachers are spending their Summer break in the hopes of bringing new ways of teaching to the classroom and maybe getting students interested in aerospace once again.

Alisa Hines

On The Horizon: Flying Back in Time

Ever since I was little I always remember looking high in the sky in search of airplanes.  They fascinated me.  They are so big, yet seem light as a feather.  When I got the opportunity to get on an airplane for the first time as a 6 year-old, I was ecstatic.  I have flown on countless planes since then and still marvel at their abilities in the air.

As we continue to advance in today’s world it is important to look back and recognize how we got where we are today.  In this week’s video blog, we travel to Oolagah, OK, where TV sensation and All-American hero, Will Rogers, was born.  We take a look at the 76^th Annual Will Rogers Fly-in, an event held in honor of Rogers and Wiley Post – two men responsible for so much in the aviation industry.
Andy Barth

Rocket Man

A half century has passed since President Kennedy challenged our nation to do what most thought to be impossible…Land a man on the moon.  Yet in just eight years, Neil Armstrong made that giant step for mankind… thanks in great part, to the work of several Oklahomans.

Per capita, Oklahoma has more former astronauts than any other state and many were in attendance at an event to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the race into space.  Former astronauts and NASA workers gathered at the Oklahoma History Center to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of JFK’s challenge to Congress:

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.” – John F. Kennedy

Few people embody Oklahoma’s pioneering spirit more than General Thomas P. Stafford…a man whose mother came to the state in the back of a covered wagon,  while he later rocketed into space.  The same passion that took General Stafford to the moon is still evident today in his work to educate a new generation about science and technology.

In this week's show, we visit the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma to look into our country’s aerospace history, as well as, the life of an extraordinary Oklahoman.

Rob