Towson University’s Outreach Blog

Lindsey

“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.” This Lee Brown quote is one of my all time favorites and was the first thing I thought of when viewing the amazing community outreach initiatives that occur each week at Towson University’s Hackerman Academy.

Each week, the Hackerman Academy provides a popular Saturday Morning Science series for the community. The series is so engaging that students want to come learn on their day off from school! Through these sessions, the Hackerman Academy meets its goals of attracting more students into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) majors while preparing teachers for area schools in these much needed discipline areas. TU students volunteer each week to help make the series possible.

What makes the Hackerman Academy such a success? One answer is by having excellent staff on board.  TU is fortunate to have its own ‘Astronaut in Residence’, Dr. Don Thomas. Following his experience as a NASA Astronaut, Don came to TU to help future students get excited and engaged in the field that he loves. Despite his remarkable background, Don is surprisingly humble and ‘down to earth’. His pure love of STEM related fields and genuine interest in helping students achieve is hard not to admire.

In addition to the Saturday Morning Science series, the Hackerman Academy often invites schools from the community in for special trips and STEM related class sessions. Dr. James Saunders, Director of the Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Bio-Informatics Program, collaborates with Don to strengthen these school and community partnerships.

It is through outreach initiatives like the Hackerman Academy that students, teachers, schools, and communities connect and learn together. Want to have fun and learn at the same time? Check out the Hackerman Academy’s Calendar of Events.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 9:24 am and is filed under Community Outreach, Education, Events, News, Students, TU Faculty & Staff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.