REGIONAL NEWS ROUNDUP: Namesake visits Morgan Elementary

Regional News Roundup

Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part one, with part two scheduled to appear in Sunday’s Tribune.

McCALL, Idaho — Astronaut and former McCall-Donnelly teacher Barbara Morgan returned Monday to the school that bears her name to challenge students to keep working hard and stay curious.

“Here’s what we’re going to do today — I’m going to take you into space,” Morgan told more than 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grade at a gymnasium.

Morgan took students on a step-by-step journey of her two-week mission to the International Space Station in August 2007 aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Her presentation included video clips of her ascent from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., as the shuttle accelerated to about 17,500 miles per hour.

To put that speed into context, Morgan asked students to think of traveling the 5 miles from the school to Lake Fork, Idaho, or the end of Ponderosa State Park in only one second while feeling three times their weight because of the acceleration.

Morgan explained the mission and her role as a specialist aboard the shuttle and the peculiarities of living without gravity. One video showed her fellow astronaut’s comical efforts to eat M&M’s in zero gravity and creativity in trapping the candy in a floating ball of water.

Morgan, 71, emphasized the importance of space travel and urged students to continue learning and exploring.

“Dream big dreams, work hard and go for it, because the sky is no limit,” Morgan said.

Barbara R. Morgan Elementary School was built in 2008 and dedicated to Morgan as the first teacher in space. She taught second, third and fourth grade classes at McCall Elementary from 1979 to 1998. At that time, classes were held in part of what is now McCall-Donnelly High.

Morgan was a mission specialist charged with operating the shuttle’s robotic arm and coordinating cargo transfers. The mission traveled about 5.3 million miles while in orbit. The mission delivered supplies and equipment to the space station, also performing experiments and conducting interviews with students.

Returning to the school was a “great” experience, said Morgan, who last visited Payette Lakes Middle School to talk with students several years ago.

“What a great school and school district,” Morgan said, reflecting on her own children’s education in Houston, where she lived while working for NASA. “They got a good education in Houston, but really nothing like here. What McCall has is the same heart and same mindset for quality education for kids. It’s that home away from home. Every one of these teachers know every one of the kids.”

Students and staff were excited to meet the person their school was named after.

“It was just great to finally get to share her story with our present day kids and staff and meet her,” BRMES Principal Valerie Berg said. “She is such a supporter and believer in all kids and the importance of their learning path. “Almost all students walked away smiling and excited to take a group picture with her knowing who she is and how their school got its name.”

Morgan was initially selected as the alternate for the NASA Teacher in Space program behind her friend and colleague, Christa McAuliffe. McAuliffe died in the Challenger disaster, along with six of crewmates when the space shuttle broke apart minutes into its flight in January 1986. Morgan chose to continue with the program because she believed in the mission.

“NASA asked if I would step into Christa’s shoes, and I thought it was really important to keep the program going,” Morgan said.

NASA eventually changed guidelines, requiring that everyone aboard the shuttle be a full-fledged astronaut, and not a “spaceflight participant” as previously proposed for the Teacher in Space program. Still committed to the program, Morgan worked for two years to become a fully trained astronaut, while continuing the educational duties of the Teacher in Space.

— Max Silverson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday

Cloudwalker Wind Project to cover 30K acres

POMEROY — The Garfield County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation on the Cloudwalker Wind Project and approved a contract and agreement at their meeting Oct. 16.

Enel Green Power North America, a renewable energy operator, has leased the wind rights to 30,000 acres in northeast Garfield County for the project. It has conducted several economic and cultural surveys, and will conduct several more before designing and construction begins.

Construction is loosely expected to begin mid-2025, with a go-live date of Sept. 1, 2026, at the earliest. The infrastructure of the project will occupy 1-2% of the 30,000 acres, and after construction farming, ranching and hunting will be able to be continued at the landowner’s discretion.

Cloudwalker Wind Project has an estimated life span of 30-40 years, at which time it will be decommissioned and the equipment recycled according to Enel’s no-landfill pledge. The land will be left in the condition it was when first leased, and any crop damages will be repaid. Enel will hold two open house meetings to discuss the Project, one at Spinner’s Maple Hall on Nov. 8, and one in Lewiston on Nov. 9.

— Naomi Scoggin, East Washingtonian (Pomeroy), Thursday