There's Enough Space for Everyone: Roger That!
The "Roger That!" symposium is entering its eighth year of collaboration between GVSU and Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM), honoring the life of Grand Rapids astronaut Roger B. Chaffee through public outreach around the theme of space exploration. Since its inception in 2017, the symposium has included various forms of K12 STEAM outreach and presentations by diverse scholars. As indicated by our tagline, "There's enough space for everyone!" speakers are specifically chosen to engage underrepresented and/or minoritized K12 populations, the university community, and the lay public. External funding from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium and internal funding from various GVSU entities has allowed us to retain NASA astronauts as our keynote speakers and to expand our K12 outreach, which now impacts hundreds of local students each year. Our keynotes for the past three years included NASA astronauts Leroy Chiao, Eileen Collins, and Jose Hernadez, each of whom delivered inspirational presentations about their journeys. Since 2021, we have also been creating STEM kits aligned with NGSS 5th grade content guidelines and taking them into local schools.