Richland One to celebrate 20th anniversary of district’s Challenger Learning Center
February 10, 2016
For 20 years, a spirit of adventure and a love of science and math, along with the help of a space flight simulator, have “transported” thousands of students, teachers and visitors across the solar system at Richland One’s Challenger Learning Center, the only one of its kind in South Carolina.
The district will celebrate the Challenger Learning Center’s 20th anniversary Thursday, February 11 at 10 a.m. at the center, which is located at 2600-A Barhamville Road, adjacent to W.A. Perry Middle School.
The celebration will include a video greeting from NASA Administrator and C.A. Johnson High School graduate Charles F. Bolden, Jr. The event also will feature a special presentation by three W.J. Keenan High School freshmen whose experiment was selected to be performed this spring by astronauts on the International Space Station. Guests also will have a chance to tour the center, fly a flight simulator and take souvenir photos with members of the local Star Trek Club.
The Challenger Learning Center includes an aerospace education laboratory, an e-Planetarium, a Tuskegee Airmen exhibit, articles flown in space, exclusive space photos, autographed paraphernalia and a 20-foot art sculpture of the space shuttle. It also offers hands-on activities, computer lab classes and teacher training.
The Challenger Learning Centers were founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Challenger 51-L crew and are dedicated to the educational spirit of that mission. Challenger Learning Center programs continue the crew’s mission of engaging teachers and students in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
