Helping NASA move forward
Coral Wilson
Students at Huntington Seacliff Elementary School were stumped by a
question posed by Principal Ann Sullivan during a morning assembly.
“Does anyone know where the name Columbia came from?” Sullivan
asked the students shortly after the tragic explosion of the Space
Shuttle Columbia.
No one could answer her, so she challenged them to find out.
When fifth-grade Gifted And Talented Education teacher Sharon
Weitz mentioned the question to her husband, he too became curious
and did some research, which she then shared with her class.
All shuttles are named after sailing vessels, he discovered. The
Columbia was named after a vessel that circumnavigated the globe, the
Columbia Redivivia. The translation of the Latin word Redivivia is
“revived” in English.
Weitz incorporated the discovery with a persuasive essay lesson
that she conducts regularly with her class.
“Wouldn’t it be neat if NASA was to rebuild the shuttle program
and call the next shuttle Redivivia,” Weitz asked her class,
beginning the process of developing a thesis statement.
The students were then instructed to write a persuasive letter,
proposing that NASA should continue its space program and suggest a
name for the shuttle that would replace the Columbia. She told her
class the new name could be anything.
“I gave them the opportunity to put in their own thoughts and
creativity,” Weitz said.
The students got to work.
“I know a tragic thing has occurred to your company, and you
should know that my family feels the pain,” 10-year-old Stephanie
Tran wrote in her letter. “It must hurt to have someone lost in your
family. NASA, you have become an immense part of my life.”
Matthew Deaner, 10, made his plea.
“Happiness and jubilance will spread on their face the day they
see the new shuttle with its name the Columbia Redivivia painted on
the side of a magnificent shuttle,” Matthew wrote. “Please don’t turn
me down, I think all Americans would confer with my choice for the
new shuttle.”
Paige Marks, 10, made a different suggestion.
“The Patriot would be a great name because it would remind us
about being true to ourselves,” she wrote. “The Patriot is the best
name in the world!”
Katie Morrow’s idea was to name the new shuttle, The Retriever,
meaning “to bring back,” according to the dictionary.
“After September 11th, 2001 my family and I realized that horrible
things could happen,” the 10-year-old wrote. “Sometimes, in my
opinion, the things that bring Americans together are not our
successes but out failures and hardships ... Never ever give up your
hopes NASA and follow your dream through and if it gets hard at times
... retrieve it!”
The class printed their letters on nice stationery and will mail
their letters to space agency officials at the Johnson Space Center
in Houston, who will forward the letters to Washington, D.C.
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