Transcript
What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. My name is Alan Hansstein, and I'm the Executive Director of the Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee. I've been a board member at the Challenger Center for almost 20 years. In the application process, I think a lot of people said, oh well, we all know you're passionate about that. It was important to me that I was also the right person to lead it, I appreciate that I am in this position now. And I think a lot of our students weren't born when Challenger happened in 1986. And we are the Challenger Center, and I love that our counselors and educators bring that up when we have school groups there. It's not just that it's our name, but I take it somewhat personally. I really reflect on that sacrifice, and not just of the Challenger astronauts, but about anybody who puts themselves out there for exploration and makes that sacrifice, because that is something that if you don't put yourself out there, you might not make that leap. But there is risk, and certainly in that position, there's a lot of risk. But the risk is worth it when you see what we can do as humanity. I mean, exploration is fantastic. It's not just about, when we get kids at the Challenger Center, it's not all about them being astronauts. There are all kinds of careers in science and technology, and education, and engineering, and arts, and every major possible. We want them to just be excited about learning. I would almost guarantee it that there is a, with the numbers that we have, we've served over a million kids in 20 years, there will be an astronaut that comes back one day and says, oh yeah, well, I did a field trip to the Challenger Center. Once again, this is Alan Hansstein, and I am the executive director at the Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee, and we are out of this world. You're listening to voices that inspire.