Houston, they have some plane tickets.
A dozen kids and teachers from MS 126 John Ericsson Middle School in Williamsburg have spent the past two school years preparing to go to space camp in Turkey. Now they are almost ready to blast off and could not be more thankful to their school for getting them rocket ready.
“This seems like an opportunity you could never get anywhere else,” said eighth grader Millaine Sena. “And I have never been to any camp.”
The 10 students and two teachers from the school have been fund-raising all year to make the $18,000 they need to all go to Space Camp Turkey. There, the kids will get to simulate zero gravity, a frictionless environment, and will take rides in a high-gravity chair, among other exciting opportunities.
Kids come from all over the world to attend the space camp, which is in the city of Izmir. They spend the week there hanging out with other kids and studying the physics of the great beyond.
To prepare themselves for the trip, the students have spent the past two years working on specialized science coursework after school. They have studied gravity, biology in different physical environments, and space travel. Also, each kid has been assigned an international “e-pal” who he or she Skypes with on a weekly basis. The hope there is that the youngsters will better appreciate the wonders of social life here on earth, the school’s principal said.
“One of the goals of the program is building social awareness and making them socially more diverse hope in the end they become young adults that respect diversity,” said headmaster Marcos Bausch.
The group will leave for the trip on June 27 and stay through July 8.
