INTRIGUED by stories from space, a sell-out audience listens Tuesday, Feb. 25, to former NASA director Tom Moser, who spoke along with former astronaut Jack Lousma in support of the SystemsGo aerospace engineering program founded by Fredericksburg High School teacher Brett Williams. More funding is needed to help SystemsGo launch a live-streaming, two-way video learning system. — Standard-Radio Post/Lisa Treiber-Walter
By Lisa Treiber-Walter —
With the help of two NASA celebrities — former director Tom Moser and astronaut Jack Lousma — fund raising to equip the SystemsGo aerospace engineering program with live-streaming video equipment achieved “lift-off.”
Dinner tickets and donations from a Feb. 25 sell-out crowd of 180 at the Hill Country University Center boosted the program’s start by about $10,000.
Yet another $5,000 is needed to launch a video interface system that will allow SystemsGo to interact with a worldwide audience.
“Imagine a classroom that is working on a particular research project, let’s say … paraffin fuels in hybrid rocket motors … with this, they could actually make a connection with a space propulsion group in California that is working on hybrid rocket motors,” explained Fredericksburg High School teacher Brett Williams.
He founded the student “rocket science” program, drafted the SystemsGo curriculum and has been key to its gaining popularity at dozens of Texas campuses ready to adopt a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) discipline.
“It is extremely important for us to be able to develop the technology to capture high definition video, to be able to edit that down into a professional training shortie, and be able to put that on our website and be able to support our efforts, whether it’s training teachers or supporting their projects and programs in their schools,” Williams said.
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