Imagination propels NASA Space Day in Brownsville

Trisha Garcia woke up at 3 a.m. with a mission: to see the furthest stretches of the universe from the Rio Grande Valley.

"It's inspiring to see real NASA scientists and all these cool exhibits," said Garcia, a fifth-grader who traveled four hours early Saturday morning to take part in the day's events.

"After this, I want to be a scientist," said Jesus de Jesus, one of Garcia's classmates.

Garcia and de Jesus were two of more than 700 students who flooded the University of Texas Brownsville and Texas Southmost College on Saturday for the sixth annual NASA Space Day. The daylong series of imaginative science activities has become one of the most treasured educational events in the region.

Each year the South Texas Engineering Math and Science Mentoring Club facilitates the event, choosing a different topic to captivate young imaginations. This year, in honor of International Polar Year, the theme was "Discovering Ice Worlds: A Key to Understanding How Ice Affects our Planet and our Distant Neighbors."

"This generation will be dealing with the effects of global warming," said Patricia Reiff, the director of the Rice Space Institute in Houston. "These kids are learning how the rising sea level will affect Brownsville, possibly bringing more hurricanes, and more intense hurricanes."

Reiff oversaw one of the day's most popular attractions: a miniature planetarium brought from Houston and inflated on-site.

Inside, students oohed and ahhed at the larger-than-life presentation, "Ice Worlds."

"They learn a lot from those presentations," Reiff said. "Unlike TV, they're a captive audience. It really makes them pay close attention to what they're learning."

Students not only learned about ice and the earth's poles, they also had the opportunity to see possibilities for their own futures beyond their previous dreams.

"I love seeing the interest in their eyes, hearing what they're thinking," said Charles Galindo, a principal scientist for MEI Technologies, a contractor for NASA.

Galindo says that as a Latino scientist and educator working for one of the world's most prestigious scientific institutions, he hopes he can show local students that the dream of becoming a NASA scientist is attainable.

"We have a major deficit of students going into science," Galindo said. "Many are intimidated by it; everyone is scared of science. The biggest payoff of outreach programs like this is to show students that they can overcome the obstacles they perceive and become scientists."

If Saturday was any indication, the Valley has significant promise in this respect. Students were not only enthused about the Polar-Palooza presentation given by the educational group Passport to Knowledge, they were knowledgeable about many of the themes touched on during the day's activities.

Teachers also benefited from the new arsenal of educational tools presented during the day's 25-plus activities.

"Last year we came with 13 students," said Mari Carrizales, a science teacher from Zapata South Elementary. "This year, we brought 71."

Carrizales says the students at Zapata South jump at any opportunity to attend a field trip. She says such interactive learning experiences have become more important since schools in Texas have shifted focus to standardized testing.

"Hands-on experience has been really informative and good for the kids," Carrizales said. "Did they complain about getting up at 3 a.m.? No, they love coming here."