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Quantico Middle/High School senior Shelby poses on Sept. 4, 2013, the day she received her official acceptance to Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Photo by courtesy photo

With local help, Quantico student sent to space camp for visually impaired

26 Sep 2013 | Mike DiCicco Marine Corps Base Quantico

It was years ago that Quantico Middle/High School senior Shelby saw the Disney movie “SpaceCamp,” inspired by the space camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. Being nearly blind, though, she never expected to attend the camp.

However, thanks to the work of a few of the school’s teachers, the Fredericksburg-area chapter of the National Federation of the Blind and the Fredericksburg-area chapter of the Knights of Columbus, the 17-year-old Marine Corps Base Quantico resident is currently in Huntsville for a week attending Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students.

The Space and Rocket Center is a museum operated by the state of Alabama, and it offers various camps and programs for children and adults, with and without a variety of disabilities.

Robotics, computer science and math teacher Warren Kimmerly and middle-school math teacher Rich Tom learned of the camp for the visually impaired when they attended the center’s Educator Academy in late July and early August.

“When Dr. Tom and I saw this, we immediately thought this would be something that would light Shelby up,” Kimmerly said. Before they even left, he told the program coordinator that one of his students would be at the next camp.

However, the registration fee is $815, and government money can’t be used to fund the trip.

“I talked to some administrators, and some teachers who shall remain anonymous overheard us and said, ‘She’s going,’” Kimmerly said. He then contacted the president of the local National Federation of the Blind chapter, and the two of them contacted the Knights of Columbus chapter.

The Friday before school started — less than two weeks after Kimmerly and Tom returned from camp — they called Shelby’s parents to say they might be able to send her to space camp. “And, quite literally, by that Tuesday, we were calling and saying we got the funds,” Kimmerly said, adding that another check came in after the teen was registered and was given to her for spending money while she’s away.

She flew out Sept. 20.

Activities at the camp include working on the outside of a mock space station while underwater to simulate weightlessness, a simulator that pilots like a rocket in space, a research project on a simulated space station and others, culminating in a six-hour simulation of a liftoff, with the students manning both the rocket and mission control.

“They get to do whatever any other, mainstream kid would do,” said Terri Koch, Shelby’s mother.

Spoken instructions, Braille and other accommodations allow the visually impaired students to perform the tasks just as sighted participants would.

“We were very elated for Shelby to be able to participate,” Koch said, adding that, while her daughter has not historically been a science buff, she is eagerly anticipating her week at camp.

Shelby said she was especially looking forward to using the simulators and scuba diving in the buoyancy tank. “It’s not like going to a regular museum,” she said. “It’s actually going behind the scenes and doing all these things.”

As she will attend the camp with more than 200 other visually impaired students, she said she also looks forward to making friends and being able to help some of the students who have less vision than she does, she said.

Koch said the possibility of her daughter “coming out of there a foot taller” is more important than any idea of her piloting an aircraft. “What I hope comes out of this is self-esteem for Shelby,” she said.

Kimmerly said he hoped the camp would reinforce in his student the idea that a physical disability is not a barrier to enjoying life.

— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com


Marine Corps Base Quantico