After two years of the pandemic it looks like I’m moving into some new projects.
I’m part of an educational outreach team working on the new Moonshot Museum that will open to the public on Saturday, October 15, 2022. The museum is located in the Astrobotic: Pittsburgh Aerospace Company site on the North Shore of Pittsburgh. Astrobotic won the NASA contract to send a lunar module to the moon in 2022. My colleague, Justin Aglio, offered me the opportunity to work on this project representing the Readiness Institute Outreach project for Penn State University. I’ll coordinate the Hope Moonshot program that will be a permanent exhibit at the Moonshot Museum which will be under the guidance of Sam Moore and Mike Hennessy. Mike Hennessy and I hope to present at this year’s Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference, TRETC 2023, scheduled for Monday, January 16, 2023.
The Readiness Institute at Penn State, in collaboration with Global Moonshots in Education, collected thousands of hopes from students, educators, and members of the global community from December 2020 through February 2021. According to Justin, “We are now sending those messages to the moon to create a lasting reminder that the hopes of today can become the reality of tomorrow. If our hopes can make it to the moon, then our hopes can become true on Earth.”
This summer I’ll wrap up my work on a new project, “Cradle to Livelihood,” for Carnegie Mellon’s program, Center for Shared Prosperity. (CSP) The project is in partnership with The Heinz Endowments. The CSP will leverage the university’s research to help address barriers to equity and foster economic empowerment in the greater Pittsburgh region. I’ll work with a team of community leaders and CMU experts to launch the Cradle to Livelihood project which will attempt to break through the existing barriers in the Pittsburgh region so all learners will find a path to sustainable livelihood.
Over the past year I’ve been reviewing films for Film Pittsburgh while serving on the Board of Directors. This summer I’m previewing films for the fall Pittsburgh Shorts Festival that will run from November 17-20 at Harris Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. The Reelabilties Film Festival took place on September 7-11 at the Point Park Playhouse Theater. (Look for additional details on the website -https://filmpittsburgh.org/reelabilities/schedule)
I’ve also explored new avenues with the Neighborhood Learning Alliance (NLA) for out-of-school programs. NLA has developed a health careers pathway with local healthcare institutions that includes college-level courses that high school students engaged with this summer at Carlow University and the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC). This summer NLA began a new teaching pathway program with Chatham University.
I’m working on a new version for the Winter of 2023 for my Osher class at Carnegie Mellon University, Teachings of Fred Rogers framed by the book When You Wonder, You’re Learning. I’m amazed that the seven amazing educators who joined me this past year will return for the winter term – Gregg Behr, Ryan Rydzewski, Melissa Butler, Cara Ciminillo, Bill Isler, Jane Werner, and Larry Berger.
This summer I’m exploring a variety of Pittsburgh and nearby areas with my camera. To see my summer photos, follow this link . I’ve been producing a series of slideshows and collages showcasing my photographs. In the past weeks. I’ve enjoyed the warmer weather to capture events around the city, like the annual Fair in the Park, as well as a trip to the New Jersey shore for a family celebration. In July I headed to Italy with Classrooms without Borders to document with photos and a film. The tour for educators focused on Discovering Italy: Crossroads of Culture, Heritage, and History with a look at the Jewish contribution. In June as a warmup to my film-making challenge I captured my cousin’s 75th birthday bash.