In January 1986, I was an 11th grader at Dreher High School. I was a Library Aide for one of my class periods. There weren’t televisions in every classroom or SmartBoards or computers. We had a few TVs on AV carts that were borrowed by teachers. On this day, there were only so many to go around. One of the self-contained classes had come to the library to watch the Challenger lift off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on one of the televisions we did have in that area.
This was important in SC and in schools because we had home state hero, Ronald McNair and teacher, Christa McAuliffe on board. It wasn’t common to watch the lift offs, but occasionally we would in a science class. The librarian, myself, the special education teacher and her aide and a handful of students from the self-contained classroom were all standing up watching the lift off. For most people who watched the tragedy unfold, they remember the sight of that explosion and witnessing the deaths of the brave men and women on board. While I do remember that, the moment I remember most about that day was when Helen, one of the students in that class of students who had come to the library excited to witness this event. She was stricken. As soon as it was clear that this was a fatal event, she let loose the most pained, heart-wrenching cry. “NOOOOO! THERE’S A TEACHER ON THAT SPACESHIP! NOOO! SHE CAN’T DIE!” She just fell down and started crying and repeating this over and over. She was utterly inconsolable. I felt so sorry her, and her raw emotion and utter sadness touched every person in that room.
She was finally able to be led to the nurse, where her parents were called to come get her. She missed several days afterward. Apparently, she had to be sedated and kept that way for several days until she was able to come to terms with the tragedy.
Even today, 32 years later, that is the image that comes to me whenever the Challenger tragedy is discussed. As a teacher, we take our students to the Challenger Center that we have here in my town. The Challenger Center provides students with hands-on activities and experiences related to NASA and the space program.
Incoherent Ramblings 