Bendwood Educator Prepares for LiftOff

Bendwood School's Molly Nipper pictured (left) with her class.

As the end-of-year countdown continues for teachers and students in classroom around Houston, one educator in Spring Branch ISD is on a very exciting countdown of her own. Bendwood School's SPIRAL teacher Molly Nipper is preparing to join other educators from across the nation for a very unique professional development opportunity at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Nipper was selected to participate in the prestigious LiftOff Summer Institute for Educators. The institute, a partnership between the Texas Space Grant Consortium and NASA JSC's Middle School Aerospace Scholars Program, offers top educators a chance to work with professional scientists and engineers in a week-long series of workshops, hands-on activities, field trips and presentations in the field of space exploration.

This year's theme of Let's Engineer it!  is designed to spark conversation and dialogue among participants about how K-12 schools are introducing students to science and mathematics curriculum, specifically through the use of the subject area of engineering. By exposing students to engineering curricula in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), educators promote critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and innovation.  By exposing students to the area of STEM studies educators play a crucial role in preparing, inspiring, encouraging and nurturing our future workforce.

The LiftOff Institute is an example of how exploration can be tapped to enrich science, math, engineering and technology. LiftOff will be held from July 7-11 at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Congratulations to Ms. Nipper on this honor. We look forward to hearing more about this exciting adventure. Stay tuned for updated and details of her exciting journey.