[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 94 (Wednesday, July 15, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CONGRATULATING THE BUEHLER CHALLENGER AND SCIENCE CENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARGE ROUKEMA

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 15, 1998

  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to draw the attention of my 
colleagues to the Buehler Challenger and Science Center in Paramus, New 
Jersey. This is a highly educational facility that provides excellent 
hands-on learning opportunities for thousands of young people. It is a 
wonderful example of how to make learning fun!
  The Buehler Challenger and Science Center was dedicated September 6, 
1994. It is a mockup of the NASA space shuttle and its control centers 
and allows students who dream of the stars to come as close to space 
flight as they can without leaving the ground. In the process, it 
teaches a myriad of lessons about science, math, thinking, problem-
solving, teamwork and self-confidence.
  The center is named for Emil Buehler, an aviation pioneer whose 
experience ranged from the biplanes and dogfights of World War I to the 
beginnings of the shuttle program before his death in 1983.
  This center presents the young people of New Jersey with a taste of 
the many challenges in science and technology that await them as we 
enter the 21st Century. The children who visit this center will see 
advances in science and technology during their lifetimes we cannot 
begin to imagine. Our children are our future and this center helps 
ensure their future is a bright one.
  Students who have taken the Buehler center's ``fantastic voyage'' are 
transported into a whole new world. And, like astronauts returning from 
space, they bring back with them invaluable knowledge about themselves 
and the world around them. This knowledge will help them aim for the 
stars as they pursue new heights in math, science and technology.
  Inspiring children through facilities such as this is essential to 
initiate and maintain interest in technology among our young people to 
enable them to meet the demands of citizens will face in the next 
century. This is essential to maintain our position in the global 
economy of the future.
  Unfortunately, but true, many children decide as early as elementary 
school that they have no interest in science. Too many believe they 
can't ``do'' science or that math is ``too hard.'' The result, 
according to some estimates, is that America will have a shortage of 
half a million chemists, biologists, physicists and engineers by the 
year 2000. The Challenger Center is helping reverse that trend. 
Fortunately, these same students are fascinated by space subjects, 
especially astronauts. This unique, hands-on experience can raise 
students' expectations of success, foster in them a long-term interest 
in math and science, and motivate them to pursue careers in these 
fields.
  It is only natural that the Challenger Center can be a way to reach 
students uncertain about science. Since the inception of the space 
program, NASA and the nation's education system have traveled parallel 
paths. They share the same goals--exploration, discovery, the pursuit 
of new knowledge and the achievement of those goals is interdependent. 
NASA depends on the education system to produce a skilled and 
knowledgeable work force. The education community, in turn, has used 
the space program to motivate and encourage students to study science, 
engineering and technology.
  If the United States is to remain at the forefront of space science 
and aerospace technology and research, then we must provide students 
with the skills they will need in a highly complex and technical 
workplace. The next generation of science and technology achievements 
can only be as good as the education and challenges we give our 
children in those subjects today.
  The children who visit this center today could easily turn out to be 
the scientists of tomorrow. Who knows what discoveries they will make 
or new technologies they will develop? Their work could be as dramatic 
as the airplane was to our grandparents or the space shuttle to us.
  Even for those who don't enter the world of science, this center 
offers an insight into the technological world around them. If we think 
it's vital to be computer literate today, imagine the skills that will 
be required in another generation.
  An important aspect of this challenge to learn is that some believe 
the United States is no longer challenged. With the demise of the 
Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, we no longer have the type of 
outside challenge that pushed us to the moon. Remember, it was the 
insult and shock of Sputnik that led President Kennedy to launch the 
space program.
  If we are not to be challenged by another nation, we must challenge 
ourselves. We must make a commitment to go where no one has gone 
before, to explore and learn and never be satisfied that there are no 
challenges left to meet.
  Today I'd like to challenge our young people to continue the record 
of meeting challenges that our nation has exhibited in the past. The 
Buehler Center is part of the highway to a future where the American 
thirst for knowledge will keep our nation the world's leader in science 
and technology.

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