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High Speed WAN and PowerPlay combine for an award winning solution for El Paso Independent School District

The AMF Presents Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award to EPISD, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, May 2004

L to R: Stephen Feldman, president of the AMF; Bob Crippen, astronaut and AMF board member; Charles Geach, 2004 Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award winner; Laura Shepard Churchley, Alan Shepard’s daughter; James Kennedy, center director of the Kennedy Space Center; and Bob Henry, chairman of the AMF, corporate senior vice president of the Harris Corporation and president of the government communications systems division of the Harris Corporation.

On May 2, at the Kennedy Space Center, The Astronauts Memorial Foundation (The AMF) honored Mr. Charles Geach as its 2004 recipient of The Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award. Named after Alan Shepard, one of our nation’s original seven Mercury astronauts, the first American to fly in space, one of only 12 humans who has walked on the moon, and a former AMF board member, this award recognizes the educator who demonstrates excellence in the development and delivery of educational technology programs.

Mr. Geach is an administrator of instructional technology for the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) in El Paso, Texas. Inspired by NASA CONNECT™, an Emmy®-award-winning series of free integrated math, science and technology instructional programs for students in grades 6 – 8, the EPISD developed NASA Connects to EPISD Live. Mr. Geach, a science teacher for 23 years, has been involved with the broadcast program since its inception in 1998.

While NASA CONNECT™ incorporates television broadcast, educator’s guide and Web activities, Mr. Geach introduced the interactive component of a video conferencing system during the 2002 – 2003 school year. Students can now be seen and heard, which allows for greater dynamics in learning. Mr. Geach has used the technology of video conferencing along with the wonders of space and science to create a fun, informative and educational program.

The award ceremony took place at the Radisson at the Port in Cape Canaveral. Astronaut Robert Crippen and Alan Shepard’s daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley, presented the award to Mr. Geach.

The AMF is a private 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1986 to honor all U.S. astronauts and astronauts flying on U.S. spacecrafts who lost their lives on missions or while in training for missions. The AMF, authorized by NASA, built and maintains two national facilities to memorialize the astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex – the National Space Mirror Memorial and the Center for Space Education.

For more information about The Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award or programs offered by The AMF, contact the Education Department at 321-452-2887 or visit The AMF’s Web site at www.amfcse.org

Contact Person: Gene Tavares, Vice President
Company: The Astronauts Memorial Foundation
Voice Phone Number: 321-452-2887 x5156
FAX Number: 321-452-6244
E-mail Address: tavares@amfcse.org
Web site:www.amfcse.org

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"The BNI PowerPlay Video conferencing carts have really helped provide us with an easy way to produce a more dynamic and interactive NASA Connects to EPISD program. In addition the carts have been used for other student programs as well (Science Sense, Mars Jeopardy Game Show, Bluebonnet Book Award Author). We are also using these carts for staff development (Bilingual Best Practices, Creating Enthusiastic Readers, Teaching Best Practices). The PowerPlay carts have truly added another positive dimension to instruction in the El Paso ISD."

Charles Geach
Administrator, Instructional Technology
EPISD