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SPACE CAMP IN ALABAMA 2 students with disabilities appeal for support
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Posted on Feb 28 2000
Two Oleai Elementary School students with disabilities who have been invited to join the Space Camp in Alabama from April 30 to May 5, 2000 are seeking public support to fund their trip from the Northern Marianas to the mainland United States.
Oleai Elementary School Principal Evelyn O. Manglona said the institution’s Deaf Education Program was invited by the U.S. Space Camp Foundation in Huntsville.
Space Camp is one of the activities of the Foundation that seeks to enable special needs children to learn the academics, emotions and physical requirements it takes to be an astronaut.
“Additionally, participating in this activity will enable our students to meet other students like them,” Ms. Manglona said. Through their interactions, she said the students will see how other deaf and children with hearing problems learn and socialize.
In 1999, the Space Camp had 68 campers with hearing disorders from 11 different programs and states. “You can just imagine what tremendous experiences our students will derive from this program.”
According to Ms. Manglona, Oleai Elementary School Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program students Evelyn Sanchez and Johnny Reyes qualified for the Space Camp.
However, the school is confronted with the great challenge of finances since the Space Camp is not federally-funded and participants have to pay for their own expenses.
“Considering the situation that the school system is in today, the deaf program or the school has neither the funds nor the resources to cover the cost for this activity. Our students will need some $5,500 to be able to travel to Alabama and back,” Ms. Manglona added.
The students, she said, are appealing for public support in order for the school to raise the necessary amount to send the two students with hearing problems to the Space Camp.
