Movin on up...

This week we hit a milestone in Mr. Bean's life--middle school open house!  How is that possible?  How could my sweet little grandson be leaving the safety of elementary school and transitioning to middle school?

We took a tour of his middle school on Tuesday night and I just have one thing to say--is it too late for me to go back to school?  Wow!  Have things ever changed in the last umm...10, 20, 30, okay 40 years?

Mr. Beans is going to attend the Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy.  It's a public school, but it's more like a charter school.

So who was Jack Swigert?  I googled him and he was a NASA astronaut who grew up in Denver.  He left NASA and was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982, but he died of bone cancer at age 52 before he was ever sworn into office.  Sad. 

So this school is all about space.  It was created through a partnership with the Space Foundation and the school district.  It is all about hands-on learning and brings the sciences, math, technology, engineering, and art to middle school students.

There are some really cool things at this school, but the coolest things are in the Space Foundation Discovery Institute.  The Mars Rovers are in the Institute.

These are robots that the kids have to program to move across a simulated Mars surface.  (If you've ever been to Legoland, this is kind of like the hands-on activity they have for kids there--they build a robot then get to program it to move.)

They also have an AGI Mission Control room where the kids use specialized software to track things like satellites and the International Space Station.













There's also the flight simulator that the school is currently installing.
 


There's also an Internet cafe with Wii, Kinect, other cool stuff the kids can use (if their grades are up to par).











So I'm pretty excited for Mr. Beans to go to this school.  I'm just wondering if they need any volunteer tech support.  Don't you think Mr. Beans would enjoy his Grammy hanging around campus trying to get a chance to drive one of those rovers?

I guess if Mr. Beans has to grow up and go to middle school, this is a pretty good school to go to.


Comments

Yogi♪♪♪ said…
Mr. Beans is growing up alright. I can't believe Middle School though. I can't believe that SuperPizzaBoy is starting high school in the Fall.

That looks like a wonderful school!
April 28, 2012 at 7:19 AM
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