My Tucson: Kids rise to STARBASE challenge
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Editor's note: Barney Brenner's column was scheduled to run next Wednesday but is running today in place of My Tucson columnist Anne-Marie Russell, who has just had a baby. Mother and daughter are fine. Anne-Marie's column will be published Wednesday.
The kids were loving it. And this was school - of a sort.
Debbie Price's fifth-graders from Wilson Elementary were in a Davis-Monthan Air Force Base classroom exploring horizons they didn't know existed.
At an age when positive impressions can be pivotal in kids' lives, they were in a project designed to create them.
STARBASE (a science and technology acronym) has 50 classes running nationwide and this is its first Arizona showing.
The architects of the Tucson version, Margaret Cole and Col. Cassie Barlow, want these students to see how fascinating - and fun - math and science can be.
Instructors Nancy Alcombright, Dorita Carpenter and Emmy Martinez were team teaching, preparing to each conduct other classes.
Having taught high school physics in Minnesota for four years, Alcombright was taking the lead this day. She has a degree in chemical engineering and began teaching as a second career.
Cole says although only Amphi and Vail districts are in the pilot program with Sunnyside and TUSD in discussions, "it's about to break wide open."
Barlow emphasizes the recent and manifold changes in technology and how they must be integrated into the scholastic process.
Of the effort to bring the program to Tucson, she says, "Once it was shown that it was win-win, the rest was pretty easy."
Everyone associated with the program is benefiting: the Air Force, students, instructors and local teachers, some in unexpected ways.
Cole recalled a class with several kids apparently familiar with gangs, displaying the attitude of being "too cool for school."
With five classes during five weeks, they were turned around by the third session under this curriculum. Teaching alcohol, gang and drug avoidance are also high priorities for the project.
Members of the D-M community in the role of career guides participate during lunchtime and describe where they are in their career, how they got there and the roles math and science have played. Those sessions have incredible impact, Cole said.
"The kids start talking about college and careers, and the teachers see a higher level of questioning from them," she said.
As a bonus on this day, the kids got an up-close look at an A-10 jet courtesy of pilot Capt. Matt Morrison, who has had military tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Price also told of a community-service project the kids do as part of their graduation from STARBASE.
"They decided among themselves to send care packages to deployed troops. The kids see men and women in uniform and say, 'Look at what they're doing for us. We want to help them.' " Her pride is clearly evident.
While some carp that we're pushing our kids too hard in school, others see the need for a more challenging curriculum.
Our kids deserve no less. They can handle it and it's apparent they'll rise to the high bar we set.
Barney Brenner is the former owner of Barney's Auto Parts and past president of the Pima County Republican Club. E-mail: barneybrenner@cox.net.
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