FOREST GROVE, Ore. (KOIN) — Many teachers go on vacation during their summer break, but Forest Grove High School teacher Jill Hertel did something different.
She went to space.
Actually, Hertel went to Space Camp at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, one of 200 teachers in the country selected by Honeywell to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
“I enjoyed the hands-on activities because so many times we get curriculum but finding out what would work and not work to bring back to my students was incredible,” she told KOIN 6 News.
The special education teacher works with students in 10 classes a week at Forest Grove High, and many don’t have exposrue to space curriculum.
At Space Camp, she met astronauts, did simulated astronaut training and shuttle missions and designed and built a rocket.
“We got to practice water evacuations in a lake and evacuating a rocket in a lake,” she said.
Hertel applied twice before she got into Space Camp. They’re already taking applications for teachers for next summer.
For Jill Hertel, Space Camp helps bring science and math to life one lesson at a time.
Filed under: Editor's Pick, Education, Oregon, Washington County
