Ransom Middle Students Celebrate Literacy With Space Station Astronauts, Chat With Future Astronaut

February 1, 2022

Ransom Middle School celebrated Literacy Week in an out of this world fashion last week.

The Escambia County School District’s theme was ” Launch into Literacy: Blast Off into New Worlds”, and Ransom students did just that.

Seventh grade students listened to astronauts on the International Space Station read their favorite stories all week. This included Florida middle school teacher turned Astronaut Joseph Acaba who read the book “Notable Notebooks” to them.

To bring Literacy Week in for a landing, Ransom students met and interviewed potential future Mars astronaut Alyssa Carson via online chat. They posed questions to the 20-year old Florida Tech University astrobiology student about her training at NASA and plans for colonizing the red planet.

“How would you like to see Mars colonized, and what things would you definitely want included in your Martian community?” is the question student Noah Jacobs asked.

The current unit in the students’ seventh grade language arts textbook centers around the question, “Should humanity’s future lie among the stars?” which made Carson the perfect candidate to offer an expert opinion on the subject of future space missions and exploration.

“We learned about Alyssa’s impressive resume this week as we planned our questions for our meeting with her,” seventh grader Kennedi Carter said. “She turned out to be the perfect person to ask. It was amazing to meet someone who has accomplished so much and who is not that much older than us.”

“Before meeting Alyssa Carson today, I never pictured myself going into space at such a young age,” said Addison Fowler who shares Carson’s dream of becoming an astronaut. “But Alyssa explained that we might be the perfect age to be the ones they will need for future colonies in space.”

In describing the exciting day, Landon Miller explained, “Today was one small step for students, and one giant leap for Ransom Middle School.”

After they signed off with Carson, the students posed for pictures with her image on a large screen, signed a card thanking her for such an exciting educational experience, and received “We Are the Mars Generation” bracelets she had mailed to them for the day’s big event.

Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News