LAFAYETTE: Ryan Elementary students are giddy with excitement about their special guest who will visit the school on Friday, Nov. 6 – NASA astronaut Steve Swanson is spending three hours with the students, visiting different grade levels throughout the day and joining all the kids for lunch in the cafeteria.
“We really look forward to Mr. Swanson’s time with us tomorrow,” said Maureen Keeney, principal’s assistant at Ryan Elementary. “We appreciate his busy schedule and efforts to come and help show the endless possibilities of math and science in our world.”
MEDIA ARE WELCOME!
Please contact the school at 720-561-7004 if you would like to stop by for some of Astronaut Swanson’s visit.
Dedicated to making each day a powerful learning experience in all subject areas for all children, Ryan Elementary is a BVSD "magnet" school with a curriculum that focuses on math and science, which means that students and teachers examine all curricula through a math and science lens.
“Here at Ryan, we go to great lengths to weave math and science into the fabric of our daily instruction along with offering our students many enrichment opportunities such as Lego Robotics class, TEAMS, Earth Education, Science Matters, Destination Imagination and CLOUT to name a few,” Principal Cyrus Weinberger said. “Ryan students are additionally supported in math and science by our full-time school coordinator, GK-12 fellow along with our collaborative relationships with the CU Mathematics Department and Exempla Hospital. We are thrilled to have yet another opportunity for our students to see the benefits of using math and science in real world applications.”
Swanson earned his undergraduate degree in engineering physics in 1983 and flew to the International Space Station in June 2007 aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. This year's Discovery mission included two spacewalks by Swanson, when the astronauts delivered and assembled the fourth and final set of U.S. solar arrays and batteries for the orbiting facility. Swanson has spent 27 days and traveled 11.1 million miles in space.
A University of Colorado at Boulder alumnus, Swanson will return to his alma mater for the CU-Texas A&M football game on Nov. 7. At halftime, Swanson will present two medals to the university that he carried on the space shuttle Discovery during his most recent mission to the International Space Station in March. CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano and physics department Chair Paul Beale will accept the medals on behalf of the university community.
For more details about Swanson’s plans at CU-Boulder while in town, please see the university’s Oct. 29 news release at http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/72195d604f9b7faa32cc29c45e195b82.html.