Missouri S&T teacher education students Marisa Tompkins (above, right), a sophomore in multidisciplinary studies and elementary education, and Frances Manahan, a junior in applied mathematics and secondary education, learned how to incorporate the study of outer space into lesson plans at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium, held in April in Colorado Springs.

Tompkins, who plans to teach third, fourth or fifth grade, knows that if she teaches fifth grade, she’ll have to do a curriculum section on career planning. She wants to be able to tell her students that they can be anything they want, even an astronaut.

“I want to say, ‘When I was in college, I met all these astronauts. And you can be one too if you try hard enough,’” she says.

Manahan was chosen to join the Space Foundation’s Teacher Liaison Program. She will serve as an advocate for space-themed education and use Space Foundation training resources to integrate space principles into her future classroom.