[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 50 (Tuesday, May 2, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S3890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNITION OF MERVIN IVERSON ELEMENTARY SPACE DAY DESIGN CHALLENGE 
                                  TEAM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate Shane Buckley, 
Brett Hyde, and Luis Rangel of Mervin Iverson Elementary School on 
their selection as a Stellar Design Challenges team for Space Day 2006. 
I also want to recognize their teacher, Katheryn Grimes, for her 
outstanding leadership and guidance of the team.
  Space Day is an international celebration of the achievements and 
opportunities in space exploration aimed at inspiring students to 
pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It 
reaches hundreds of thousands of teachers and millions of students 
around the world. Past events in support of Space Day have taken place 
in over 25 countries on 6 continents.
  Created by the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, Space 
Day Design Challenges is a national competition that encourages 
students to create innovative solutions to the challenges of space 
exploration. The 21 Stellar Design Challenges teams were selected from 
more than 259 teams who participated in the competition, making these 
students' work even more impressive.
  The Mervin Iverson Elementary School team designed a tool to help 
researchers on Mars. The remotely operated tool would collect samples 
of rock, minerals, and soil, analyze their chemical compositions, 
measure temperatures of the Martian surface, and relay this data back 
to Earth.
  In honor of their achievements, the Iverson students will attend the 
national Space Day 2006 ceremony at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 
and meet former Senator John Glenn. They will also have the opportunity 
to share their knowledge by displaying their project to more than 2,000 
sixth graders from the Washington, DC area.
  Their success is reflective of their hard work, dedication, and 
creativity as well as Mervin Iverson Elementary School's strong 
commitment to academic excellence. Please join me in honoring Mervin 
Iverson Elementary School and its Stellar Design Challenges team on 
this extraordinary accomplishment.

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