Schools

Floris Students Learn About NASA, Sports Reporting at Career Day

A number of community members representing a variety of career fields talked to students during Career Day at Floris Elementary School on March 16.

Floris Elementary School had its first career day, which included sports reporters, physical therapists, police officers and even a NASA engineer, on Friday, March 16.

The highlight of the event was Renee Williams, a former engineer for NASA, who worked at both the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Williams talked to students about how she used drawing, math, science and writing while working for NASA.

While at the Johnson Space Center she worked on the payload part of the shuttles, or where the cargo is stored. It was her job to figure out how much cargo can fit in the payload and how the astronauts will be able to use it.

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When she worked at the Kennedy Space Center she worked with fuels and chemicals used on the shuttles. She worked with cryogenic propellants in the space shuttle’s external fuel tank and solid propellants in the rocket boosters on the shuttles.

Williams said the next craft that NASA will send into space is the Orion, which will be able to go deeper into space including to the moon and possibly Mars. She said the first launch is scheduled for 2013. 

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During the sessions with the career day presenters students got to ask all kinds of questions. During a session with Dave Ross, a sports reporter and producer for Fox 5, students asked about his favorite sports, who he's interviewed and how he prepares for his interviews. 


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