(Hollidaysburg, PA)
Beating the Odds Foundation, a non-profit educational organization, will
hold its annual student event in cooperation with NASA called the Quarterbacks of Life®/NASA Research Challenge on May 12, 2021. Due to the pandemic, the first-ever virtual event will be produced from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. This year’s event is sponsored by ASRC Federal.
“We are very excited to sponsor this year’s Quarterbacks of Life event alongside NASA,” said ASRC Federal President and CEO Jennifer Felix. “It is vital that we, as Americans, ensure our young people experience STEM programing that stirs their imagination and creates opportunities that will lead them to a rewarding and meaningful career in STEM.”
97 students, with a grade level range from 2nd grade to 12th grade, comprising 6 schools from Pennsylvania, 1 school from Florida, and 1 school from California are participating in the challenge this year. This year’s challenge focuses on the life of Retired United States Navy Captain, engineer, test pilot and former NASA astronaut, Scott Altman. Through the example of Altman’s life challenges and successes, students can see that anything is possible.
“It’s an honor to share my story as a child dreaming of flying and becoming a pilot and then flying higher and faster as a NASA astronaut,” said Scott “Scooter” Altman, ASRC Federal Space operating group president. “It is important to me to share the successes but also the challenges I had along the way and the wonderful adventures that ultimately resulted. I’d like to encourage the next generation to think expansively about their future and boldly reach for the stars!”
In 2013, Beating the Odds Foundation teamed up with NASA to create a dynamic, exciting, and experiential learning opportunity that engages students in the use of a powerful Blueprint for Success and a NASA classroom research challenge. What started in 2013 has become a yearly experience for students with new and exciting research challenges. While the various subject matters focus on STEM, the overall universal appeal is demonstrating to students that individuals just like them work for NASA. As a culminating experience to the classroom research challenge, an event is held where student teams present their findings to NASA personnel, receive a VIP tour, and hear from speakers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
This year, the first-ever virtual event will not include a trip to Goddard Space Flight Center, but students will have the astronomical opportunity to hear from Scott Altman and participate in a Q&A with Altman.
A link to the virtual event will be shared with the participating school communities. Following the event, the recording will be posted on the Beating the Odds Foundation’s website (www.beatingtheodds.org)
For schools or aerospace companies interested in becoming involved with the Quarterbacks of Life® Student Success & Leadership Program, please contact Beating the Odds Foundation (www.beatingtheodds.org).
About the Beating the Odds Foundation Beating the Odds Foundation is an educational charity founded in 1990 by former Altoona, Pennsylvania police officer, Rocco Scalzi. The Beating the Odds Foundation's (BTO) mission is to serve the needs of students by fostering in them the desire to achieve success in all they do, and to live lives of purpose and meaning as caring human beings and builders of caring communities. BTO has long been dedicated to helping students build workforce development skills and does so through its Quarterbacks of Life® Student Success & Leadership Program. This Program offers students robust, real-world experiential learning opportunities and a 5 Stepping Stones to Success curriculum that teaches success, leadership, resilience, and a positive mental attitude to use in the face of ever-present life challenges and setbacks. (www.beatingtheodds.org)
About NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is home to the nation's largest
organization of scientists, engineers and technologists who build spacecraft, instruments and
Beating the Odds...2.2.2 new technology to study Earth, the sun, our solar system and the universe. (www.nasa.gov/goddard)
About ASRC Federal
ASRC Federal’s family of companies deliver successful mission outcomes and elevated
performance for federal civilian, defense and intelligence agencies while building an enduring enterprise focused on customers, employees, and shareholders. (www.asrcfederal.com)
