In The Oranges: College Students Visits NASA’s Goddard Space Center

The minds at NASA aren’t just dedicated to space exploration, they’re also national leaders in education.

That’s what a group of education majors at Essex County College in Newark learned during their trip to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Carline Alexandre of Orange, Adjua Boucher of South Orange, Nancy Contreras of Bloomfield and Kendra Johnson of East Orange participated in a five-day program at the iconic space center earlier this month as part of NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP).

"I didn't realize NASA was involved in so many educational activities," said Contreras.

Contreras said she is interested in elementary education and learned a lot on how she can incorporate the science activities she learned into overall lesson plans when she transfers to Montclair State University this fall and majors in family and child studies.

"It was intense,” said Boucher. “But it was also one of the most amazing experiences of my life."

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Photo courtesy of Essex County College