This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

03-037
For Release: June 13, 2003

Sally V. Harrington
Media Relations Office
216/433-2037
Sally.V.Harrington{at}nasa.gov

Celebrating 10 Years of Inspiring Youth to Succeed

Over the last ten years an innovative program managed by the Office
of Educational Programs at NASA's Glenn Research Center has been
inspiring a diverse student population, K-12, to pursue careers in
the fields of science, engineering, mathematics and technology.

The 10th anniversary celebration of SEMAA (Science, Engineering,
Mathematics and Aerospace Academy) will coincide with the annual
National SEMAA Conference to be held June 16-19 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Educators, students, parents and administrators from all 19 SEMAA
sites across the country will attend. The focus of the conference is
to develop additional ways to create awareness and access to programs
with similar purposes and to develop partnerships.

The following three events are open to the media:

Monday, June 16, at 7 p.m. following a welcome dinner at the Radisson
Inn Cleveland Airport in North Olmsted, awards will be presented to
Former Congressman Louis Stokes; Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton, President of
Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C); John Hairston, Director of
External Programs; and Dr. Lynn Bondurant, retired Educational
Programs Officer at Glenn, for their work in establishing the SEMAA
program. 

SEMAA was born in 1993 of then U.S. Congressman Louis Stokes' concern
about the low level of academic achievement of the young students in
his District and his urging for the creation of a unique program that
would focus on mathematics and science. Educational personnel at
Glenn and Tri-C embraced his idea and developed the SEMAA program.

Dr. Yvonne Freeman will speak on "No Child Left Behind" at a luncheon
on Tuesday, June 17, at OAI in Brook Park, Ohio. Dr. Freeman is the
Executive Director of SECME, Inc., one of the premier precollege
programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics for
teachers, educational leaders and students in the nation.

Activities on Wednesday, June 18, at Tri-C's Metro Campus between 2-4
p.m. will feature students from SEMAA sites in the Cleveland area at
Tri-C and Lakeland Community College and in Dayton, Ohio. A panel of
students will share their experiences in the program and parents will
talk about how the program has benefited their children. There will
also be demonstrations of robots built by the students for the FIRST
Robotics Competition and the LEGO League Robotics program.

Further information about SEMAA can be found at http://www.semaa.net

# #

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---