Winter 2022-23

Photos by Norton Gusky CC BY 2.0

It’s good to spend time with kids and educators after more than a two year hiatus. Here’s what I’m doing this winter.

I’m part of an educational outreach team working on the new Moonshot Museum that opened 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 2023. My colleague, Justin Aglio, offered me the opportunity to work on this project representing the Readiness Institute Outreach project for Penn State University. I work on the Hope Moonshot program that is a permanent exhibit at the Moonshot Museum. My photos were used for the exhibit of the Hope Moonshot. This winter I’m taking photos and making movies for the Moonshot Museum and Astrobic with educators and students from the Manchester Academic Charter School (MACS) and the Manchester Youth Development Center MYDC). On May 4 Astobotic hopes to send the Peregrine lander to the moon with the first archive of Hope Moonshot dreams. Stay tuned for ways you can help celebrate this happening with special activities during Launch Week.

I’ll join the River Valley School District in San Diego for the World of Work Conference. Philip Martell, the superintendent of River Valley, and Jeff Geesey, the Workforce Development specialist, will share the STEAM/Cybersecurity program that River Valley has developed in the past year. In addition to visiting the Cajon Valley Union School District and attending sessions, I’ll help document the event.

BIG NEWS from one of my clients, Birdbrain Technologies. The Finch Loan program applications are now OPEN for spring and summer 2023! In the last 8 years, the Finch Library program has reached over 205,000 students with its free robot loans. Apply for FREE creative robotics magic today: https://birdbraintechnologies.com/loan-program/

Over the past year I’ve been reviewing films for Film Pittsburgh while serving on the Board of Directors. This winter I’m previewing films for the JFILM Festival that will take place from April 20-30, 2023.

I finished teaching a new version of 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 six of the amazing educators who joined me this past year returned for the winter term – Gregg Behr, Melissa Butler, Cara Ciminillo, Bill Isler, Jane Werner, and Larry Berger.

I spent an afternoon in the West Jefferson School District observing students from the Pleasant Hills Middle School discover how to become more creative problem solvers.

This winter I’m exploring a variety of Pittsburgh and nearby areas with my camera. To see my winter photos, follow this link. I’ve been producing a series of slideshows, collages, and movies (see my Gallery: https://nlg-consulting.net/norton-gusky-gallery/.) For the World of Work Summit at River Valley (RV) I created a short movie to capture the morning session led by Ed Hidalgo from the Cajon Valley School District in California with RV staff members and an afternoon session on workforce opportunities led by Philip Martell, the superintendent of RV, Ed Hidalgo, and Beth Carr from Beable Software.