As the nation's eleventh largest school district, Dallas Independent School District serves more than 164,500 students who come from homes where 58 different languages are spoken. Operating with a $1 billion dollar budget, DISD employs 19,234 employees including 10,500 teachers in 218 schools.
28 Nov 2001
Students Honor Victims From World Trade Center, Astronauts For Their Courage
DALLAS-It is T-minus four hours and counting, and this is one space shuttle launch that not even the cold wintry weather in Dallas can stop.
While Dallas-area meteorologists and staffers track the weather in North Texas, and while NASA officials continue to prepare for the first shuttle launch in Florida since the September 11 terrorist attacks, students at Harry C. Withers Elementary School in the Dallas Independent School District are preparing to take part in a simulated launch of the NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour scheduled for Thursday.
Before the simulated launch, the students will also honor those who lost their lives at the World Trade Center in New York.
The WEDNESDAY event will take place at 2 p.m. at Withers Elementary, which is located at 3959 Northaven Road in Dallas. The classroom has a large-scale model of the shuttle. During the simulation, students will actually sit in the model and use PCs to "navigate through the launch" and the rest of the "mission."
NASA began a three-day countdown for Endeavour's mission on Monday. The shuttle is scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday at 6:41 p.m. CST. Endeavor will deliver a new crew of three Russian and American astronauts and return with the three crew members currently living aboard the International Space Station.
Aboard Endeavour are 5,000 pounds of provisions and hardware, 6,000 post-card-sized U.S. flags, at least two full-sized flags and 36 Japanese quail eggs. The small flags will be given to the families of victims of the September 11 attacks. The larger flags were recovered from the ruins in New York and Washington, and the bird eggs are part of a scientific experiment.
At Withers, students regularly engage in scientific studies. The shuttle model at the school was built this year.
"We use the model of the shuttle to help challenge our students to do well in school and get a good education, while encouraging them to dream about what they can be if they do their best," Withers Principal Veronica Pasternak said. "We know that if our students get a world-class education that will have a positive impact on the city of Dallas."
Following the September attacks, Withers' students signed and mailed a 300-foot card to fellow students in New York City. As a result of their actions, the school was recognized in the New Yorker magazine.