Socorro, NM: Science education gets big boost from Aerojet

From DChieftain.com (Socorro, NM): Science education gets big boost from Aerojet
Aerojet presented a check Monday to the Socorro Consolidated Schools District for $17,140, to be used for science and astronomy teaching workshops for local educators, classroom presentations, fieldtrips to local observatories and star parties. The award was the result of a grant application submitted to the GenCorp Foundation, a division of Aerojet’s parent company that supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in communities where the company’s employees live and work.

Aerojet presented a check Monday to the Socorro Consolidated Schools District for $17,140, to be used for science and astronomy teaching workshops for local educators, classroom presentations, fieldtrips to local observatories and star parties. The award was the result of a grant application submitted to the GenCorp Foundation, a division of Aerojet’s parent company that supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in communities where the company’s employees live and work.

The application, submitted by Socorro Consolidated Schools, was written by Magdalena Ridge Observatory’s Coordinator of Education and Public Outreach, Dr. Daniel Klinglesmith, Cottonwood Valley Charter School Principal Karin Williams and Socorro Schools Interim Superintendent Vannetta Perry. Together, they proposed a collaboration between the schools, MRO and National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array, to create unique opportunities for local students to get hands-on experience in how scientists and astronomers explore the universe, and why.

“It’s a great opportunity for the schools and the kids, and for Aerojet,” said Aerojet Business Analyst Kathy Spring, who was instrumental in moving the application through the necessary channels. “It should be very exciting.”

The funding will pay for a series of two-day teacher workshops to be held at New Mexico Tech’s Etscorn Observatory, and for students from New Mexico Tech to present a series of classroom demonstrations with those teachers. The presentations will include creating models of extra-planetary bodies and introductions to opportunities for students to participate in and contribute to astronomical research. The funding will also pay for field trips to the MRO and VLA, complete with transportation and tours guided by professional astronomers, and to the Etscorn Observatory. The star parties at Etscorn will be open to teachers and students, and also to their friends and family members.

Spring said Aerojet has been part of the Socorro community for 28 years. The GenCorp Foundation was started in 2000 as a way for the company to support the communities where it conducts business, and the causes that are important to its employees.

Since 2000, the foundation has donated more than $70,000 to the community. The funding for the Aerojet Astronomy and Space Science Program brings that total to close to $90,000.

Some of the causes Aerojet has participated in and supported locally include the annual Relay for Life events, Girl Scouts, DAV, NM Boys and Girls Ranches, NM Tech’s Performing Arts Series, Puerto Seguro homeless shelter and Socorro Storehouse food pantry. Aerojet also gives scholarships to seniors graduating from Socorro High School.

Spring herself takes advantage of a dollar-for-dollar matching grant program where, for every hour she volunteers at her granddaughter’s school, Aerojet donates an equivalent sum of money.

“Aerojet’s goal is to encourage our students to pursue careers in engineering and science — to help protect our soldiers, keep our nation safe, and provide America the ability to explore space,” Spring said, during the presentation of the check.

She said Aerojet has dozens of programs for investing in the future of the community, and her goal is to find out about and take advantage of every single one.