A local legislator’s obsession with punctuality has earned a Shawnee Mission teacher the opportunity to go to space camp.
State Rep. Barbara Bollier was speaking with another attendee at the 21st Annual State Directors conference of Women in Government earlier this month when she checked the time an noticed the next session was about to begin.
“I’ve always been really uncomfortable with being late,” she said. “So I told the person, ‘Let’s go. I have to be in my seat.’”
That timeliness paid off when Bollier’s name was called in the drawing for a door prize: a legislator from Alabama had donated a week-long trip to the Space Academy for Educators.
“It was like the Price is Right — I was jumping up and down,” Bollier said. “Science is a big deal for me, so I loved getting this prize and being able to bring it home.”
The Shawnee Mission School District has put out an call for interested teachers to apply for the opportunity, which will take place during the summer at the Space Camp campus in Huntsville, Ala. Participants take part in space flight simulations and get introduced to made-for-the-classroom modules on space and exploration.
“It’s always nice to be able to provide this kind of professional development option for teachers, especially the way education funding has been,” Bollier said.
Bollier, Reps. Stephanie Clayton and Melissa Rooker and Sen. Kay Wolf are all members of Women in Government.