Students at Discovery Canyon Campus participated in Space Day on Jan. 18, an annual day of interactive science-and-space themed activities and visits from astronauts, scientists and keynote speaker Jonathan Woods, Executive Producer at TIME.

Woods spoke to students, sharing his Emmy Award-winning video series, “A Year in Space,” which follows Astronaut Scott Kelly’s year-long journey to the International Space Station.

“The objective is just to share the inspiration that we’ve been able to capture in working in close proximity with NASA and (the Russian Space Agency), to be able to convey, not only what it takes to produce some of the story telling that we do, but also to convey some of the excitement that we’ve experienced just by working in very close proximity to some of the most ambitious things that humans are doing today,” Woods said. “I think it’s important for kids to experience things that are bigger that themselves to inspire (them).”

Woods speaks at schools and universities across the nation several times a year, encouraging young people to find inspiration in things “larger than themselves” and to pursue excellence in their chosen careers.

“I think it’s something that we need to spend a lot more time investing in our children to keep them inspired and engaged, specifically to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math,” Woods said.

The message of inspiration was prominent in all of the day’s happenings. Activities included a chemistry “magic show,” interactive physics presentations from Air Force Academy representatives, an inflatable planetarium, and an activity room where high school students helped elementary students do things like build paper rockets and calculate their body weight on different planets.

“Today we are going to discuss how rocket propellants are made and how we look at things in space,” said Stacey Lazzelle, a chemist at the United States Air Force Academy, to an auditorium full of students.

Lazzelle added that we are living in exciting times with missions to the moon and Mars scheduled in the coming years, adding that getting kids excited about science and math is important for whatever career they choose to go into in the future. An astronaut had visited the students a few days prior in preparation for Space Day.

“They’re a lot smarter than they realize,” Lazzelle said of encouraging students to stick with STEM studies, even if it’s difficult. “We don’t want them to give up. We’re actually wanting them to learn how to think. You teach them to be good thinkers, and that can apply to everything.”

Discovery Canyon students are encouraged to explore science and math every day of the year.

“We are a science-and-math themed school,” said Terry Bramschreiber, assistant principal at the high school and a key organizer of Space Day. “The campus itself is built as a learning tool. We have seven plazas that run through the ‘canyon’ and each one is dedicated to a different math and science concept.”

A quick tour of the imposing, multi-building school on North Gate Boulevard — designed to house 2,400 students — reveals model space crafts throughout the halls and libraries, science-themed murals and benches in the shape of the star constellations.

“We always try to find connections between disciplines,” Bramschreiber said, adding that even English teachers may have their students write about science topics and math teachers may demonstrate how math is the “language” of science.

“We believe in a growth mindset, so if anybody says, ‘I’m not good at math,’ you just follow that up with, ‘yet, because we’re going to get you there,’” Bramschreiber said.

The annual event requires extensive planning and coordination and is highly anticipated by students, faculty and community members, Bramschreiber said, adding that the school has established great relationships with science-and-technology based organizations in the community that are eager to participate in Space Day activities.

“We will start planning for next year as soon as this is done,” Bramschreiber said. “We start with the keynote. We want somebody who’s done something important in science, particularly space. Sometimes they’re authors, sometimes they’re astronauts, we’ve had people who’ve worked on space missions and things like that.”

Jonathan Woods, executive producer at TIME, who recently created an Emmy-winning video series following the life of astronaut Scott Kelly through a year at the International Space Station, speaks Jan. 18 to elementary school students at Discovery Canyon Campus for Space Day, an annual event encouraging hands-on exploration of space and science themed topics.

Photo by Autumn Cave-Crosby

Jonathan Woods, executive producer at TIME, who recently created an Emmy-winning video series following the life of astronaut Scott Kelly through a year at the International Space Station, speaks Jan. 18 to elementary school students at Discovery Canyon Campus for Space Day, an annual event encouraging hands-on exploration of space and science themed topics.

Photo by Autumn Cave-Crosby

Students at Discovery Canyon Campus sit inside an inflatable planetarium from the Challenger Learning Center and learn about the stars during Space Day, Jan. 18. 

Photo by Melissa Stewart

High school students at Discovery Canyon Campus help their elementary school counterparts calculate their body weight on different planets, one of the space and science themed activity that took place during the school’s annual Space Day on Jan. 18. 

Photo by Melissa Stewart