Astronaut Linda Godwin speaks to Field Elementary students about space, rockets and working hard in school.
Fourth-graders sat scattered around the computer lab at Field Elementary School peering at a big screen on the wall. This was no normal class video about space.
Instead, the 40 students not only watched but talked with astronaut and Missouri native Linda Godwin.
As Godwin appeared on the screen from NASA in Houston, Texas, the students waved eagerly and whispered, “That’s so cool!” and “Can she see us?” One at a time, 10 students stood up to ask the astronaut and MU graduate questions they had prepared for the videoconference.
Audio problems caused by a poor connection made it difficult for students to hear all of Godwin’s responses, but the students remained excited.
“What is it like when a rocket launches? Is it scary?” asked James Stuart.
Godwin smiled.“It’s a little scary, but it’s pretty exciting,” she said — now a long way from where she grew up in Cape Girardeau.
Bridget Phillips said she was nervous to talk to Godwin because she is a “real astronaut.” Bridget received the honor of introducing Godwin after being a role model to her class through the school year.
After the questions had been answered and Godwin had talked about working in the space program, she ended the conference by encouraging students to work hard in school.
“I’m just an average person who worked pretty hard in school to get where I am, and that’s what I hope to get across to the students — they have the same decision pathway in front of them,” Godwin said in a phone interview Wednesday.
The video conference was set up by Jane Biers, president of the Columbia branch of American Association of University Women, and Sarah McDonald, library media specialist at Field. “This allows students to expand their horizons and open their eyes to the opportunities available to them, which will hopefully help them set goals for themselves,” McDonald said.
The event gave students a chance to interact with a woman whom they had studied; Godwin is featured in a compilation of biographies used first at Field as part of a pilot project with AAUW. The project has now expanded to all Columbia public schools. “Notable Women of Missouri” provides a diverse collection of women’s biographies at a fourth-grade reading level to the school. Fourth-graders must research the life story of a notable Missourian, but the lack of researchable women prompted the local AAUW to create the compilation.
Godwin — who earned her undergraduate degree from Southeast Missouri State University and her master‘s degree and doctorate from MU — was featured in the first set of biographies and is the only one of the 10 who is still living. Other “Notables” are the Titanic’s “Unsinkable” Molly Brown and Olympian Helen Stephens.
Godwin has been with NASA since 1980 and became an astronaut in 1986; she has flown in four space flights and participated in two space walks. In the fall, the AAUW will have a new set of 10 biographies ready to go — this time for fourth-graders throughout the city’s public schools. Columbia Public Schools Foundation has granted money to produce the new biographies and to make both sets available to fourth-graders across the district.