Field Trips is a series of stories that highlight schools and districts that have implemented new strategies to improve student outcomes, developed exemplary practices and validated their results through data and other verifiable demonstrations of student performance.

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CDE Field Trips - 10/30/24: Space Club at Milliken Middle School

Posted 10/30/2024 - 3:36pm

Twice a month, students at Milliken Middle School connect over their shared interest in space. Space Club has been entirely student-run since the beginning, with members deciding on projects like creating their own planets and designing rockets.

Seventh-grader Hayden Wagner and his friends had the idea for the club in the lunchroom at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.

At a recent meeting about 11 students tossed an earth beach ball around a circle sharing what planet they’d like to live on and why, finalized their T-shirt design, gave presentations, and made constellations with marshmallows and pretzel sticks before enjoying the snacks.

The club's purpose is to “have fun and chat about space,” said seventh-grader Robert Shepard during a brief presentation on the club’s history and regulations.

Sixth-grader Julia Beal joined because she got interested in space over the summer. She was hooked on space after watching the parade of planets in the night sky – a phenomenon when several planets are visible at the same time.

“There’s so much that we don’t know about space that there’s no stop to the amount you can learn about it,” Wagner said.

Science teacher Katherine Schifter supervises the club while letting the students take the lead. She recently participated in an aerospace externship for educators and couldn’t wait to share her experience with the space club members.

“These students have a deep passion for science and technology in astronomy, space exploration, and the aerospace industries,” Schifter said, “Their enthusiasm for learning is ‘out of this world!’"

This year the club plans to take a virtual field trip to NASA's Goddard Center to learn about engineering satellites. Schififter has also applied for the Poudre Valley REA Empower Grant for STEAM learning projects. The students will participate in the Mars Expedition at the Challenger Learning Center in Colorado Springs if awarded.

In December, Milliken Middle School will move into the former site of Roosevelt High School and become Roosevelt Middle School.

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