Deadline Approaching for Shepard Award Nominations

The deadline is approaching to nominate an educator to receive the 2010 Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award. Given by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Space Foundation, the award will be presented on April 12 during the Opening Ceremony of the 26th National Space Symposium at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Entries must be postmarked by Jan. 16, 2010. For detailed information on submitting an application, the review process, and selection criteria, see The Astronaut's Memorial Foundation www.amfcse.org/, or see the Space Foundation education awards.

The 26th National Space Symposium is the premier gathering of the global space community. The agenda includes the presentation of a number of prestigious space-related awards, including the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award.

The award is named after Alan Shepard, one of the nation’s original seven Mercury astronauts, the first American to fly in space, one of only 12 humans who have walked on the moon, and a former AMF board member.

Open to all K-12 school- and district-level educators across the U.S., the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award recognizes excellence in the development and delivery of technology programs, with priority given to programs that focus on aerospace and/or aeronautics. The nominations must demonstrate how the program ultimately benefits students in a school or district. A school-level candidate must be nominated by his/her school principal and a district-level nominee must be nominated by his/her superintendent or associate superintendent.

The winner receives $1,000, a trophy, his/her name engraved with past winners' names on a plaque at the Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and an expense-paid trip to the Space Foundation's 26th National Space Symposium, April 12-15, 2010. The honoree has formally presented the award at the Symposium's Opening Ceremony and can then participate in education programs for teachers at the Symposium.

Ricardo V. Soria, assistant principal of Choctawahatchee High School in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was named the 2009 recipient for his role in creating the Engineers For America (EFA) program, an innovative elementary school initiative that promotes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education through hands-on flight, aviation, and aerospace activities.

The Space Foundation’s 26th National Space Symposium will offer workshops, forums, panels, and presentations covering all aspects of space, a number of special dinners and luncheons, and presentations of space-related awards. The 2009 event attracted almost 8,000 attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers.

The Symposium will also include a full-day workshop for Space Foundation Teacher Liaisons, a group of nationally recognized educators who are passionate about space science. The event will have staying power in the form of a hands-on curriculum that the teachers can immediately take back to their classrooms.

Online registration and more information, including agenda, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors, are available at www.NationalSpaceSymposium.org.

This article is part of Space Watch: January 2010 (Volume: 9, Issue: 1).