The voice mail of Colleen Storiz informs callers that she’s, “probably out exploring the universe now.” That was particularly true of Storiz from June 7 – 14, when she attended the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy program at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. Storiz is a resident of Lake Bluff and a middle school science teacher in Des Plaines.
Q. When you were growing up, was your goal to become an astronaut?
A. I did. But I didn’t think I would go to college. I grew up very poor on the South Side of Chicago. I was the first one in my family to go to college.
Q. What did you study?
A. Anthropology and archaeology. I worked in archaeology for a couple years in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. When I lived in Honduras I always played with the neighborhood children. People said you’d make a really good teacher. When I went back to school (for a master’s degree) I studied science.
Q. Describe some of the more interesting activities you did while at the astronaut training center.
A. I built a rocket. I actually zip lined across a lake. I went rock climbing. I was put on a team to learn how to build an ablation shield so when the capsule goes back into the atmosphere, it doesn’t burn out. We set up an egg and they take a blowtorch to it.
Q. What was the most challenging activity?
A. It was the zip lining. I’m on a platform maybe four stories high with a helicopter. It supposed to simulate jumping from a helicopter. I’m actually afraid of heights. I was literally bawling. The (trainer) was like, are you sure you want to go down? I went through it twice.
Q. Did you meet any astronauts?
A. A couple that were guest speakers and a couple NASA developers and engineers.
Q. Did you gain anything from the Space Academy you think you’ll be able to use in the classroom?
A. I have lots of information I can take back to my students. And I put together a proposal for my head of school to take an eighth grade physics class to the Space Academy in May.
Twitter: @reporterdude
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