Gift will allow students to study the solar system
Friday February 20, 2009
CEO of law firm donated computerized telescope to fourth-grade class at Piedmont
For the Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The planets didn't exactly align in the sky above Piedmont Elementary School, but they're going to be a lot brighter, and closer.
On Thursday, Bill Foster, CEO of the Foster Law Firm in Charleston donated a Celestron C-6-SGT computerized telescope valued at about $3,000 to the NASA Explorer School - the only one in the state.
"Some of these kids have never had an opportunity to see and use a telescope before," he said. "For them to be able to actually touch one puts a belief that shows there's no limit to what they can do. Some of these kids have never been told that."
Piedmont, on the East End, is in its second year of a three-year deal with NASA. The program is designed to excite children about science and math at schools with a higher percentage of minorities and students who get free or reduced lunches.
Principal Steve Knighton was thrilled with the "generous donation" from Foster, saying that it's a great opportunity for kids, as well as parents, to see what a telescope of its caliber can do.
"Hopefully, this will make kids excited about science at an early age who have the talent and maximize potential," he said. "The kids sitting in the classrooms today will be shot to Mars tomorrow."
Fortunately, the donation came at the right time. In April, Kim Landers' and Lindsay Lucas' fourth-grade students will team up with NASA to help drive "not a little telescope, but a big one," Landers said.
The students will steer, via computers and with assistance from the scientists, a 34-meter wide radio telescope at Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope in Apple Valley, California.
"As the kids control it they'll see it turn on computer screens," said Landers who has been teaching at Piedmont for 16-years. "I'm excited for them."
Under the watchful guidance of scientists at the radio telescope center, and their teachers, the fourth-graders will study quasar differences, take data on the brightness of Jupiter and how it changes, Landers said.
"Hopefully, they will get to test drive this one for a couple weeks and prepare to help drive one bigger," Foster said about the Celestron, which has a maximum magnification of 345x.
The students will have their first chance to view the stars on March 5, during Science Night. A NASA liaison, Rudo Kashiri from Langley Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Hampton, Va., will be there to help them, Knighton said.
The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at Piedmont. Students will perform experiments and presentations as well as studying the stars. This will give parents a chance to learn with their children, the principal added.
Foster said he didn't randomly pick a Charleston school to benefit from his donation.
The idea arose a while back when he took his mother Sandra on a three-week tour of Italy sponsored by the Baptist Temple in Charleston. Principal Knighton was a fellow traveler.
They connected while in Venice, after a comical remark by their tour guide left only Foster and Knighton laughing.
"I looked around and no one else was laughing except for Knighton," Foster said. He said that's when he knew he'd found a friend on the trip.
Eventually, while touring the sites of Italy, the famed Italian astronomer Galileo etched his way into their conversation Knighton told Foster about his school's NASA Explorer Program, and Foster asked if there was anything he could do to help.
Knighton replied that some of his students were going to have the opportunity to drive an enormous telescope as part of their program, but that they didn't have one at their school.
Foster told Knighton, "We'll make sure that that happens."
He said he saw a need, and was more than happy to fill it.
"As a NASA Explorer School, we talk so much about astronomy and space flight," Landers said. "To have the magnification to get kids viewing the stars through a telescope is great."
One of her students, Chance Tolley, 11, said the telescope was "amazing" and that he was "glad we get to use it for science."
Over the course of the three-year deal with NASA, Piedmont will receive a total of $22,000 from NASA.
Knighton said $7,500 of that money went to NASA's Digital Learning Network, a two-way audio/video conferencing system allowing students to interact with NASA experts.
Some of the money also went to buy two SMART Boards - touch-sensitive, interactive white boards that connect to a computer.
Contact writer Chris Jackson at chris.Jackson@dailymail.com or 304-348-4872.
