Teacher thrilled about boarding for NASA

Trevor-Wilmot’s Adams slated for January deployment

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

When Ashley Adams learned of her selection to board a flying telescope for a NASA ambassador program, she viewed it as an honor to be one of a select few across the United States.

Ashley Adams
Ashley Adams

The 28-year-old Trevor-Wilmot Consolidated School science teacher is teaming up with a former colleague at Madison Metropolitan School District in the 2016 Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors Program.

“It’s pretty intense. It is an exciting honor and it was a long process,” Adams said. “At this point I am excited that they saw that I am qualified to be good for this program.”

She applied for the program in 2013 while she was a teacher at Madison Metropolitan School District along with her eventual teammate Geoff Holt.

Adams, an Elkhorn native, taught eighth grade science, language arts and literacy for four years before taking a position at Trevor-Wilmot.

Holt is the district’s planetarium director.

“(He) told me it was a long shot and competitive… which is a long process of letters of recommendation, enrichment plans, community outreach plans and civic engagement. We then waited for several years due to national budget concerns,” she said.

The National Aeronautic Science Administration’s program consists of 11 educator teams from the United States with scattered deployments from August through January.

As part of the preparation, the Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors complete a graduate credit astronomy course, and expect to work with professional astronomers and scientists at NASA during the 10-day mission along the North American stratosphere.

While Adams acknowledged astronomy is not her area of expertise, the world of the unknown has always intrigued her.

“It has already been interesting for me, based on the natural observations I have made,” she said. “That being said, space is pretty cool, I love it.”

Citing the recent birth of her first-born child, Cal, in February, Adams is one of the last teams to take part in the mission, scheduled for January.

“Over the course of that flight, it will sometimes go over Hawaii, sometimes entirely over the United States and sometimes in Canada,” she said.

Along with a group of scientists, they will conduct research on board NASA’s flying telescope, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Technology.

SOFIA is a modified Boeing jetliner equipped with a 2.5-meter telescope that uses a suite of seven instruments to study objects at infrared wavelengths during 10-hour overnight science missions.

Information gathered from the 10-day mission is essential to the national science curriculum, Adams said.

“The major focus is infrared radiation and based on national science standards, it is a huge part of our curriculum,” Adams added.

Adams’ husband, Ryan, is excited for her, noting the rare opportunity for teachers.

Adams’ parents reside in Elkhorn while her brother, Scott, lives in Janesville with his wife.

Her younger sister, Katie, lives in Milwaukee.

In the three-year program, just 106 educators have been selected from 31 states and the District of Columbia.

She is not only grateful for the opportunity, but for the people in the community for the support.

“I love my students, and I love my job,” she said. “I think my passion for education shines through my students and family.”

The other 10 teams are from California, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio.


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