One of our new student ambassadors, Ezra Miller, joined us today. Before his arrival Ezra said, “I am super excited to connect with like-minded passionate students and participate in experiments and programs about space and technology. I love learning and these opportunities to make and meet new and old friends.” Ezra hadn’t met some of the other student ambassadors before but in their usual style, they gave him a warm welcome and before long they were chatting like best friends.
The morning was an opportunity for the Student Ambassadors to interact with two fascinating people. The first was Tony Law, who is the immediate past president of the Macarthur Astronomical Society. He came to visit the Ambassadors at One Giant Leap Australia Headquarters. He spoke to them about astronomy and astrophotography, answering many questions they had. He also enjoyed seeing our new Moon and Mars maps and took the opportunity to have a photo or two with the Student Ambassadors.
The second event for the day was an hour with Shannon McConnell via Skype. Shannon lives in the Pasadena area and worked for NASA JPL for 30 years. During her highly successful career, she was an active member of the teams providing support and outreach that included the Deep Space Network as well as a Space Shuttle mission. Shannon is a wonderful supporter of the One Giant Leap Australia Foundation. She has participated in restaurant dinner talks during our Space Camp USA Tours and been a founding member of the ‘Space, STEM and Your Future’ series of events since 2018. Shannon has such a relaxed and warm style when talking to the Student Ambassadors, and readily shares both her knowledge and insight into the Space Industry and careers in STEM.
The afternoon was full of excitement and new challenges for most of the Ambassadors with a trip to the local airfield. They spent some time flying drones to get used to how to control them. For some this was a completely new experience. They each had a lesson flying a remote-controlled aeroplane. Some took to it quickly, while others needed more instruction, but they all kept going and started to get the hang of it. They all came away with new-found knowledge around aviation safety, CASA regulations and a great sense of achievement.
