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Worland fourth graders get to work with Space Force

WORLAND – Recently, Worland fourth grade teacher Ashley Weaver applied for and was accepted for a unique opportunity with the Space Force.

According to Weaver, she found out about the opportunity through her husband, Ten Sleep teacher Dane Weaver. In celebration of their second birthday, the Space Force was accepting applications from all 50 states to collaborate with them. Weaver applied for the opportunity and was chosen to work with Major Jonathan Hogan of Los Angeles, California.

“At West Side we have been working on a lot of the engineering process during the month of DeSTEMber (De-science, technology, engineering and math-ber) and I thought this would be an excellent way to celebrate,” Weaver said. “The fourth grade students were challenged to design the tallest tower that was also strong enough to support a small object for 10 seconds. The kids had a blast,” she explained.

The following day, the fourth graders were able to Zoom chat with Major Hogan of the Space Force.

“He told us a little bit about himself and the Space Force. He also built his own Tower of Power for us, bringing in elements of engineering and why certain shapes work better than others. He ended up with how the Space Force affects every day life,” Weaver said.

SPACE FORCE

HISTORY

The United States Space Force (USSF) is a “separate and distinct branch of the armed services, organized under the Department of the Air Force in a manner similar to how the Marine Corps is organized under the Department of the Navy,” according to the USSF website.

According to the official USSF website, the USSF “was established Dec. 20, 2019, when the National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law, creating the first new branch of the armed services in 73 years. The establishment of the USSF resulted from widespread recognition that space was a national security imperative. When combined with the growing threat posed by near-peer competitors in space, it became clear there was a need for military service focused solely on pursuing superiority in the space domain.”

According to the website, “Space Force’s ‘STEMtoSpace’ outreach campaign started as a small team project in honor of the Service’s first birthday Dec. 20, 2020, designed to link Space Force volunteers with local-area students to talk about the importance of STEM education. The initiative quickly expanded reaching more than 17,000 students across all 50 states in the campaign’s first year.”

 
 
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