High School/High Tech Students Explore Beyond Expectations

While some Maryland resident high school students spent their summer playing video games, watching soap operas or mini-golfing, 31 local students were meeting with role models, working high-tech jobs and gaining life experience. These High School/High Tech students gathered with their families on August 8 in Goddard's Visitor's Center to celebrate their successful summers.

High School/High Tech, a program that began 11 years ago, matches disabled students with mentors at various locations, including Goddard, the Beltsville Agriculture Research Center, the U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Transit Administration and the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.

The students have a broad range of disabilities, including cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, hearing impairments and emotional or behavioral problems. They are assigned tasks that give them "real world" experience in high-tech fields, encouraging them to consider a similar job after graduation or after college.

The appreciation ceremony featured two speakers; Michael Hartman, manager of the Employment Program for People with Disabilities at Goddard and Dillard Menchan, chief of the Equal Opportunity Program Office at Goddard.

"You are a fantastic group of students," Hartman told the group. "Absolutely phenomenal. I want to see you back here as interns, in a technical field, talking to High-School/High-Tech students."

	(left) Dante Bailey of Eleanor Rossevelt High School, Angie Kelly, mentor, Guy Cordier, Michael Hartman and Dillard Menchan. Photo by Charles McNalley, executive director of the United Cerebral Palsy of Prince George's and Montgomery counties

Following the speeches, each individual student was called upon to pose with his or her mentor for a photograph and to make a statement about his or her experience. "I had a great time being here," said Dante Bailey, a High School/High Tech student who worked on a database program for EOS. "It was a good experience. It wasn't really like a job, but more like a hobby. I hope I can stay longer."

Goddard's 23 High School/High Tech students performed a variety of tasks. Some worked on x-ray and laser inferometry instruments or did administrative work or analyzed web data. Others conducted interviews and entered data into spreadsheets. All of the students at Goddard were able to tour the Hubble clean room, the vibration room, the shuttle mock up and the centrifuge. They also talked to college students with disabilities working toward degrees in technical fields and employees at Goddard with disabilities.

"What you got from your experience here was more than money, more than a check," said Menchan to the group. "Hopefully what you got here this summer was a sense that you can do more than what you thought you could. Hopefully your expectations of yourself got higher and the higher your expectations, the more you achieve. That's what High School/High Tech is all about."

If you are interested in participating in the High School/High Tech program as a mentor, please contact Michael Hartman: Michael.j.hartman@nasa.gov ext. 6-5715, voice/TTY