The 50th anniversary of the first moon landing is being celebrated with a range of activities and workshops to inspire students about hard work, perseverance and success.
On July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the moon. The ‘Race To The Moon’ had triggered a huge surge in technological advances at the time, seeing more and more people inspired to make the move into STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – as they wanted to be a part of such an exciting enterprise.
Physics teacher, Miss L Prosser, said: “This makes it relevant to our students as we hope to inspire them in the same way. The ‘Race to Mars’ is now under way with more countries such as China, India and Israel now having the technological capabilities to be in the running, opening up new opportunities in STEM careers to our students.
“Earlier this year, President Donald Trump challenged NASA to ensure the USA are the first country to land a manned mission on Mars, echoing John F Kennedy’s vision in his ‘We choose to go to the Moon’ speech in 1962. Getting humans to Mars seems impossible but only as much as getting to the Moon was in 1969.
“The ‘Race to Mars’ will undoubtedly reinvigorate the Space industry and thus provide more diverse careers and opportunities for our students.”
As part of the celebrations to mark 50 years since the momentous moon landing, Highfields is staging a series of events and activities for students. As well as quizzes and competitions, all lessons will be specially designed to honour the amazing triumph, giving students the chance to design landers, investigate crater sizes, analyse poetry and bring to life drama pieces inspired by the event.
Miss Prosser added: “It is important that our students understand that hard work and perseverance can lead to great achievements.
“Setting themselves a goal and not resting until that goal is reached, then aiming even further is the only way to reach ‘infinity and beyond’.”
