Clay Middle School teachers Steve Sturgis and Derek Dial were awarded a scholarship from Indiana’s Space Grant Consortium to attend the 2023 SEEC Conference at Space Center Houston! SEEC, or Space Exploration Educators Conference, is an annual conference held by NASA personnel with the goal of “igniting” educators’ passion for space exploration education. Attendees participated in curated sessions from educators and NASA experts while interacting with other teachers to learn and grow together. 

This year’s conference was tied to the ongoing Artemis missions currently underway at NASA. With Artemis, NASA is leading the next steps to return humans to the Moon. NASA’s Artemis program will apply the lessons learned from past missions and take the next giant leap: sending the first woman and person of color onto the surface of the moon. Mr. Dial and Mr. Sturgis were able to meet and hear from astronauts who expect to be returning to the moon in 2024! In addition to meeting current NASA astronauts, engineers, and administrators, Mr. Dial and Mr. Sturgis were also provided an opportunity to learn from teachers from around the world. Mr. Sturgis and Mr. Dial returned home with materials and lesson plans, which will be shared with students and fellow science and technology teachers at Clay.