Marisa Tompkins

The Space Foundation selected Marisa Tompkins and Amanda Almany as two of 31 teacher liaisons to attend the 34th Annual Space Symposium in April in Colorado Springs.

Tompkins is a senior at Missouri S&T from Pomona, Missouri. She is a multidisciplinary studies major with an emphasis in elementary education. Almany is a fifth-grade teacher at Rolla Middle School and one of Missouri S&T’s cooperating teachers for student field experiences at the elementary level.

Started by the Space Foundation in 2004, the teacher liaison program influences space and science education. Teacher liaisons serve as advocates for space-themed education and use Space Foundation-provided training and resources to integrate space principles into the classroom.

The program is open to public, private and homeschool teachers, school administrators, principals, specialists, curriculum and instruction developers and others who provide education programs to students.

The 2017 liaisons were Frances Manahan, an applied mathematics major with secondary education emphasis, and Jessika Zink, a Rolla Middle School teacher who is also a cooperating teacher for S&T’s elementary education field experiences. They too will attend the symposium and be recognized for their teaching and sharing of space principles this past year.