2006.10.06: October 6, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Staff: Science: Space: Chicago Defender: Mae Jemison tells Chicago girls to reach for the stars

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Sierra Leone: Special Report: Sierra Leone Peace Corps Medical Officer and NASA Mission Specialist Dr. Mae Jemison: February 9, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Staffer Mae Jemison : 2006.10.06: October 6, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Staff: Science: Space: Chicago Defender: Mae Jemison tells Chicago girls to reach for the stars

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Mae Jemison tells Chicago girls to reach for the stars

Mae Jemison tells Chicago girls to reach for the stars

At the onset of the program, Jemison said that there were no women of color in space until her shuttle launched in 1978. But people don't always remember that this happened not too long ago. The 49-year-old often hears people say, "Are you really Mae Jemison because I thought you were going to be real old!" Also in attendance, Nichelle Nichols, an actress noted for her role as Lt. Uhura in the original "Star Trek," encouraged the students to follow their dreams by saying, "Explore the great what if. If we can do it you can too and even greater things." Astronaut Mae Jemison, the first Afro-American woman in space, served as a Peace Corps Medical Officer in Sierra Leone.

Mae Jemison tells Chicago girls to reach for the stars

Mae Jemison tells Chicago girls to reach for the stars

by H. Lee Whack Jr. & Daniel B. Honigman
October 6, 2006

Mae Jemison, the first woman of color in space, hosted an event to Increase awareness about aerospace among Chicago area junior and senior high school girls on Thursday at the Illinois Air National Guard Hangar near Midway Airport. The event, Reality Leads to Fantasy: Celebrating Women of Color in Flight, also honored women in the U.S.and abroad.

The 50 students that participated in the program were part of the Young Women's Leadership Academy of the Chicago Public Schools. They were able to engage in hands-on aerial activities, and they were briefed on space launch and entry equipment, search and rescue missions, and helicopter orientation.

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"It's important for the [students] to get a chance to touch and feel," said Jemison, adding that the hands-on interaction with outer space then becomes less "strange and difficult to imagine."

Students watched as a spacesuit was inflated and they tried on parachute backpacks and climbed in and out of helicopters.

At the onset of the program, Jemison said that there were no women of color in space until her shuttle launched in 1978. But people don't always remember that this happened not too long ago. The 49-year-old often hears people say, "Are you really Mae Jemison because I thought you were going to be real old!"

H. Lee Whack Jr. & Daniel B. Honigman are reportres for the Medill News Service.

Also in attendance, Nichelle Nichols, an actress noted for her role as Lt. Uhura in the original "Star Trek," encouraged the students to follow their dreams by saying, "Explore the great what if. If we can do it you can too and even greater things."

As the students divided into four groups, Ellen Gipson, a 15-year-old 8th grader from Bronzeville, was observing a parachute backpack demonstration in the launch and entry equipment workshop. "It looks very heavy and uncomfortable," Gipson said. "The parachute looked heavy enough already."

Nearby 14-year-old Rana Tuggle, a high school freshmen from Uptown, said she had, "Never seen anything like this before."

Women of color from the U.S. military, NASA and one woman from the Indian Air Force conducted demonstrations and informed the students about their personal experiences in flight.

Retired Air Marshal Padmavathy Bandhopadhyay said, "today is a day of dreaming," as the students prepared to begin the day's activities. She had flown to Chicago from India for the event.

Carolyn Knowles of the NASA administrative fellowship program was present to promote awareness about opportunities in space. This event and others like it promote her program's focus on STEM--science, technology, engineering, mathematics.

Standing just outside a helicopter in the Illinois Air National Guard Hangar, U.S. Marine Corp Capt. Vernice Armour, who was born on Chicago's South Side, said she volunteered for the event because, "It's my responsibility to give back."

"The reason I'm here is because I saw another black female in a flight suit," Armour said, recalling the life altering moment female while she was in ROTC at Middle Tennessee State University. She has served two tours in Iraq, returning from the most recently in February 2005.

The second part of this two-day event is slated to take place at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at the Museum of Science and Industry and others are also scheduled at Chicago Public Schools.

Also coinciding with events, the Festival of Flight at Navy Pier Lakeview Terrace, followed by a Reality Leads Fantasy Gala, will celebrate women of color in flight at the pier's grand ballroom on Saturday at 7:45 p.m.

H. Lee Whack Jr. & Daniel B. Honigman are reporters for the Medill News Service.





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Story Source: Chicago Defender

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Sierra Leone; Staff; Science; Space

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