WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Retired NASA Astronaut Tom Akers capped off a successful Kids’ College program at Missouri State University-West Plains Thursday afternoon with an exciting presentation about his journey from his hometown of Eminence in Shannon County to “the final frontier.”
Akers was the final presenter at this year’s three-day event July 12-14, which gave 102 area fourth through eighth graders the opportunity to participate in many hands-on learning experiences in a college format. Students were allowed to choose the classes they wanted to attend to tally up credit hours for graduation. Class topics ranged from art and communication to history and science, to name a few. This year, students also had finish off their curriculum by attending a “capstone” course, which was provided by Akers.
“That’s 102 kids who are now a little less intimidated by the idea of going to college when they’re older. They’re familiar with a college campus, and they’ve witnessed how it works,” said Jennifer Moore, coordinator of theater and events for Missouri State-West Plains’ University/Community Programs (U/CP) Department and organizer of Kids’ College.
Moore said attendance at this year’s Kids’ College was up 20 percent over last year, and she credits that to some new course offerings and instructors, one of which was Akers. “We were able to recruit some fabulous new instructors and switch up our course offerings while keeping several of our popular courses from last year,” she explained, adding KY3 News Anchor Ethan Forhetz also taught a class in broadcast news for the first time this year.
Akers, who graduated from Eminence High School in 1969, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in applied mathematics from the University of Missouri-Rolla, now known as Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T).
After spending four years as the principal at Eminence High School, he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1979. In 1982, he was selected to attend the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California. After completing one year of training as a flight test engineer, he was reassigned to Elgin Air Force Base in Florida, where he worked on a variety of weapons development programs, flying F-4, F-15 and T-38 aircraft.
He was selected for the astronaut program in 1987, where he held numerous positions and became the veteran of four space flights with the Space Shuttle program. During the flights, he helped launch space probes, repair satellites and the Hubbell Space Telescope, and restock Russia’s Mir Space Station. He accumulated more than 800 hours of space flight, including over 29 hours of spacewalking experience.
“There was this great moment when Tom Akers asked the auditorium full of kids, ‘Who do you think is going to be fixing the International Space Station and building things on the moon or Mars 20 or 25 years from now?’ After a pause, he said, ‘It’s going to be your generation, not mine. And it could be you,’” Moore said.
He left NASA in 1997 to return to the U.S. Air Force to command the U.S. Air Force ROTC Detachment 442 at Missouri S&T. He retired from the Air Force in October 1999 and accepted a teaching position at Missouri S&T. He retired from the university in 2010.
“Missouri State-West Plains puts on one of the best Kids’ College programs in the Midwest, and it’s a huge team effort,” Moore said. “There are over 70 people who come together to make this work each year, and out hats are off to them.”
For more information about Kids’ College and how your child can participate in next year’s event, call the U/CP office at 417-255-7966.