Zooming Into Space Webinar

Selected into the Astronaut Corp in January 1990, Dr. Bernard Harris was a Mission Specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1993. As Payload Commander on Space Shuttle Discovery in 1995, he served on the first flight of the joint Russian-American Space Program, becoming the “First African American to walk in Space”. A veteran astronaut for over twenty years, he has logged more than 438 hours and traveled over 7.2 million miles in space. The kids also had a “Zooming into Space” Artist session with Mr. Tyrone Brown.

Alvin Ailey Dancers Field Trip

The Oakland County Links sponsored a field trip for the Birney K-8 School’s 4th & 5th grade students to see the Alvin Ailey Dancers at the Detroit Opera House. This trip was the first time the majority of the students had visited one of Detroit’s oldest and most magnificent concert halls. The students were enthralled by the venue, the art of dance, and the discipline required to perform at the professional level.

Field Trip To Wayne State University Arts & Astronomy Departments

The Arts sponsored a field trip for the Birney K-8 School’s 4th grade students to visit Wayne State University and expose students to a college campus as well as arts and science. In the James Pearson Duffy Department of Art and Art History, the students learned about the fascinating work of artist, Yayoi Kusama, who works with dots. Wayne State art students led the 4th graders in an interactive art exercise using various size dots. The students were given paper pumpkins to paint and used their creativity to paint dots. While their pumpkins were drying, they were given stick-on dots to adorn a striking black paper sloping wall/floor and stark white furniture. In the Planetarium the students experienced art through the stars and engaged in an interactive demonstration of that day’s night sky projected onto a 27-foot dome. The students learned how to identify some of the stars, constellations and planets and how the arts and stars are connected.

Field Trip To Oakland University Cinematography & Graphic Design Departments

The Arts sponsored a field trip for the Rogers Elementary 4th grade classes to visit Oakland University’s Cinematography and Graphic Design Departments. The purpose of the visit was to expose the students to the arts through interactive exercises in filmmaking which also demonstrated how graphic design and cinematography are related. The students had an opportunity to make their own short film. Each was assigned a role as either an actor, producer or movie director. This exercise taught the students how equipment is set up and what goes on behind the scenes. The students also learned how sound effects are made and used in film. They were given props to make sound effects for a silent cartoon movie. Five professors and several Oakland University students from the College of Arts and Science instructed the students on the interactive exercises. Oakland University gave the students T-shirts with Oakland University on the front and the Links logo on the back.