Sally Ride

Sad news today.  Sally Ride, first American woman in space, passed away today.  In honor of her accomplishment I am posting a picture of Illiana with Sally's uniform that she wore in space.

Thank you Sally for being the first!

A little relaxation

Whew...presentations are over, it is Independence Day in our nations capital, we may never get to experience this again.  LET'S DO SOME SIGHTSEEING!

Some of us decided to try to visit as many points of interest as we could in the 24 hours we had left in Washington D.C..  Trains, taxis, and miles and miles of walking led to a once in a lifetime experience.

Looking east on the National Mall at the U.S. Capitol building.

 Another picture of the Capitol building, the big white tent is where the 4th of July concert was located.

 Illiana in front of the Lincoln Memorial

 Me in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

 Illiana and I climbed all those stairs.

 Stopping to look back at the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool.

 Proof that we did climb the stairs!

 This is one of my favorite pictures!

 The Vietnam Memorial.  There were a lot of visitors, many of them were taking rubbings and pictures of the names on the wall.

 Another favorite picture.  The Vietnam Memorial with The Washington Monument in the background.

 The Executive Office Building all decked out for the 4th.

 The White House from the North lawn.

 Illiana in front of The White House.  We waited trying to see if President Obama would make an appearance, but no luck.

 Nuclear arms protesters across from the white House

 First subway ride for the students.

 Main hall of Union Station

 Students walking through Union Station

 Replica of The Liberty Bell

 Union Station entrance dressed up for the 4th

Just for fun Illiana and Ali.

In the meantime...

When the you tube video of the presentation gets uploaded I will post a link.  I know y'all are waiting to see the video.

In the meantime......

Here are pictures of the poster presentations at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

 Preparing for the poster presentation.  Jackets off, shirtsleeves rolled up, a more relaxed atmosphere.

 Poster is ready.  Thank you Ms. Rubner for the beautiful prints.

 The public was welcome to ask questions and talk to the scientists.

 The Middle School students and Mr. Monte in front of their poster.

 The Middle School posters were very colorful and the students very eager, attracting plenty of attention.

 You can't have too many group photos of good looking, intelligent scientists.

 Mr. Christensen inviting the students to participate in an engineering competition.

 Answering questions with Dr. Vanhala.

 Dr. Livengood enthusiastically discussed the biological components of the experiment and gave some advice which will enhance the results.

Illiana

June 2, 2012

Today is the day when we will present in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The nerves have not really kicked in yet. I do not know how I will react when I’m on the stage. Hopefully practice makes perfect.

At around 10 am our name was called out. “The next team to present is Presidio, TX.” Here we go! I did not even feel nerves walking on the stage. As soon as Ali began introducing us, my heart started pounding. In my mind I would tell myself to keep cool. I had never felt so nerves. But then I told myself, Hello you know the material just say it!!! This helped me loosen up, and I was able to present with confidence. What felt like a hour of talking on stage really was only like 7 minutes. But we got through it as a team. We received a lot of positive feedback from the SSEP program and the audience.

YAY!!!