Astrophysics Team Meet-N-Greet

This past Tuesday evening, four students and one teacher at OHS became part of astrophysics history!  For the first time ever, students and teachers participating in NASA's astrophysics research program were able to meet one another using Google Chat.  After a quick supper of pizza and chocolate cake, Brian Westgate, Clara McGee, Dylan Ramsay and Mackenzie Miner, along with physics teacher Mrs. Granucci, crowded around a webcam in Mrs Granucci's classroom and waited to connect with students and teachers from around the United States.  The web based meet and greet was orchestrated by Dr. Varougan Gorjian, an astrophysicist who works for Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena, California.  He will also be hosting an actual meet and greet at his home this July when all of these young adults, along with their teachers, arrive in California to spend a week working at Cal-Tech. Also joining in on this momentous meeting were three students and a teacher from Tennessee; one student and teacher from New Hampshire; and two students and one teacher from Wisconsin.  They were all very pleased to meet each other, but the first meeting was a little awkward as first meetings tend to be.  Dr. Gorjian kept the conversation going by discussing issues ranging from the weather to the new Star Trek movie.  Most of the conversation revolved around the upcoming trip and the organizational aspects of bringing together students and teachers from more than 25 schools around the U.S. Although quiet and reserved, all of the students involved in Tuesday's web chat seemed excited to be a part of this incredible opportunity and are looking forward to meeting each other face to face.