12 minute read
EDITOR’S COLUMN
PART WIDE THE CURTAINS Let’s be open to others and to the wonders of the world
Late last year, Sachs Media broadcast an email inviting people in its considerable network to share with others what they are grateful for by making posts to a website, sharegratitude2020.com.
Most who did so began their posts with “Despite everything that happened in 2020” or words to that effect. Almost all expressed sentiments of a universal quality.
Ragina is grateful for “Life in Florida.”
“I moved to Florida almost 10 years ago, and even though I have had my challenges throughout the years, 2020 is the year I was the most grateful to be in the Sunshine State,” she wrote. “I am grateful for the beauty and the yearround warm weather. During our time in quarantine, I was able to enjoy the outdoors and scenery more, go through some healing and try new things such as picking peaches in a field all by myself. There is no place else I would rather be, and being here, I am so grateful.”
Reagan is grateful for “My Pets.”
“I am grateful for my two cats Clementine and Delilah,” she posted. “During the COVID pandemic, they have kept me company while working from home. Who could ask for better coworkers?”
Cheryl is grateful for the “Fresh Start of Each New Day.”
“With the unprecedented challenges we have faced this year, I am grateful that every morning brings a fresh start and the opportunity to make things just a little bit better for myself, my family, friends, colleagues and clients,” she wrote.
Cheryl’s remarks reminded me of my late father, who wasn’t all that old when he began to say, “I am past the point where I take tomorrow for granted.”
For my part, I submitted that I am grateful for “My Mother’s Teachings.”
“I am reading The Bully Pulpit, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book about presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft,” I began. “I am grateful for good books, perhaps now more than ever. Goodwin observes that a large increase in nervous disorders occurred in the early 1900s. Three reasons for that development were cited: increased speed of communication (telegraph); clamorous city life replacing the rhythms of nature; and the tabloid press exploding local stories into national news. Now 12 decades later, we persist along that misguided path. Email and texting have replaced the telegraph, of course; screen time has further removed us from nature; and social media are supercharged tabloids. We are living our lives at great remove from our essences. So it is that I bicycle to my pond, load my cheek with soothing tobacco, fish with a lure crafted from wood when I was a boy and delight in fooling one, two, three, four, five bass. I am as a snowy egret, attracting meals with yellow feet. I am grateful that my mother taught me to fish and to love the birds, to derive pleasure from a hike in the woods. I am glad that she caused me to put up my BB gun and resisted always my pleas for heavier arms.”
By the way, I shared news of my fivebass catch with my brother Tad, who replied, “I demand a recount.”
“The truth is,” I assured him, “I won the popular vote, I won the Pectoral College.”
Henry David Thoreau might have written that he was grateful for “A Life of Few Possessions.”
He long ago wrote, “It costs me nothing for curtains, for I have no gazers to shut out but the sun and the moon, and I am willing that they should look in. A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within my house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.”
Let us, as we embark upon a new year, do as Thoreau suggests. Let us make contact with the real world. When possible, let’s put up our handheld devices and engage others, perhaps someone with whom we share a roof, in heartfelt, unselfish, in-person exchanges.
Too, given all that we went through in 2020, let us be mindful that Vince Lombardi’s bombast, “Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser,” isn’t often true.
Be well,
STEVE BORNHOFT sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com
FREEDOM TO HIT THE ROAD!
GET UP TO $300¹ when you bring an auto loan from another lender to CAMPUS! (Promo Code: L300)
PUT THE PEDAL TO THE METAL
Fast, easy approval with flexible payment terms and competitive rates
Apply online at campuscu.com Call 894-9098 and press 4 Now offering Curbside Service – Visit any CAMPUS Service Center
Killearn 1511 Killearn Center Blvd. | Governor’s Crossing 101 N. Blair Stone Rd. | Mahan Village 3122 Mahan Dr.
TALLAHASSEEMAGAZINE.COM
DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE Downtown Community Church Connects Communities Virtually
Our professional and personal lives are ever changing. In 2020, we used digital platforms more than ever to meet with clients, host group events, stay in touch with friends and gather in praise and prayer as congregations. Downtown Community Church moved quickly to adopt those platforms to ensure that there would be as little disruption as possible in all that it offers Tallahassee. Read more at TallahasseeMagazine.com/downtown-communitychurch-connects-communities-virtually.
GEM COLLECTION’S ANNIVERSARY GIFT GUIDE From symbolic gemstones and updated anniversary bands to personalized jewelry and more — a jewelry gift for an anniversary is always special. See our recommendations at TallahasseeMagazine.com/style-links.
What Do the Space Shuttle, a Bourbon Brined Turkey and a Big Green Egg Have in Common? The Big Green Egg maintains the No. 1 spot as the most high-tech and versatile grill in production. Learn more by visiting TallahasseeMagazine.com/ home-garden-links.
TALLY TOP PET
The Latest in Neck Anti-Aging Wrinkles and creases result when we spend hours in repeated activities, such as working at a computer keyboard or gazing into our phones. Those unwanted lines become more pronounced as we age, but they can be reversed. Learn more by visiting TallahasseeMagazine.com/ beauty-links.
TOP 4 VOTING IS UNDERWAY!
The plot thickens, and the competition stiffens now that the Top 8 pets have been decided! Top 4 voting will take place Jan. 1–7, and the winners will proceed to the Final 4 of this year’s Tally Top Pet contest. Also remember that donations to Be The Solution can still be made. Head over to TallahasseeMagazine.com/ TALLY TOP PET PHOTO CONTEST tally-top-pet to view the current bracket, place your vote or donate!
15th Annual
BENEFITING PATIENTS AT THE TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL CANCER CENTER
Honoring Breast Cancer Survivor Denna Hunter
You Give Life!
Thank you to our donors and sponsors for your heartfelt generosity. From providing PET scans to patients who do not have health insurance to providing lodging and transportation for patients who must travel to Tallahassee for treatment, you give patients care, comfort and hope. You are truly GIVING LIFE, and we are so thankful.
TMH.ORG/CardsForACure
BENEFITING PATIENTS AT THE TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL CANCER CENTER
THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE FOR PATIENTS!
Title Sponsor
Inspiration Sponsor KWB Pathology Associates MasTec Tallahassee Ford Dr. Dean and Nicole Watson
Compassion Sponsor
Dr. Armand Cognetta, Jr., and Suzanne Cognetta FASTSIGNS of Tallahassee Lisa Graganella Myron and Judy Hayden Southeastern Plastic Surgery, P.A. The Tallahassee Chapter of The Links, Inc., Links in Pink The Tallahassee Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.
Empowerment Sponsor
Dr. Jana Bures-Forsthoefel, MD, Owner Dr. Dorothy D. White, MD
Pink Ribbon Sponsor AMWAT Moving Warehousing Storage Florida Surplus Lines Service Office Lori DeSherlia Steve and Linda Evans North Florida Animal Hospital Quarter Moon Imports Ted Smith Brandi Thomas Blair and Nancy Williams
Special Thanks to Leon Fights Cancer
Every year, Leon High School students, families and alumni, along with the community, rally to support patients at the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center. This student-led fundraising initiative has generated over $350,000 over the years to directly benefit patients fighting cancer. How amazing are these students and our community! Thank you, Leon!
323THE
JAN/FEB 2021
PROFILING THE PURSUITS, PASSIONS AND PERSONALITIES AMONG US
EDUCATION SIMULATING SPACE TRAVEL
by RILEY O’BRYANT
Spring break was approaching, and excitement was building among the staff at the Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee (CLC). No, they were not getting ready for a week at the beach. Rather, educators at Tallahassee’s premier K-12 STEM education facility were making final tweaks to a meticulously planned spring break camp curriculum.
“We love spring break,” said CLC education director Susan Borland. “We normally see kids one day, but then you get to see the same kids day after day — ah, it’s good for the soul.”
Michelle Personette, the executive director of the CLC, echoed Borland’s remark, interrupting a technical discussion to describe the joy, in a normal year, of hearing the CLC building overtaken by enthusiastic students making discoveries and experiencing “aha” moments.
Of course, recent months have not been normal. On March 12, the pandemic led the CLC to scrub its much-anticipated spring break camp mission.
“We thought, OK, we’ll be back in 14 days,” Personette recalled. “Looking back, you think, that was silly of us. But we knew what we knew.”
The CLC, a facility usually devoted to hands-on instruction, made dramatic adjustments. Staff converted in-classroom experiments to virtual. And, there was the pressing matter of space simulations.
CLCs across the country conduct space simulations as a way of introducing students to the fantastic world of space exploration. Students work in teams to accomplish cosmic objectives while sharing a model NASA mission control center and model space vessel interior.
Implements and steel control panels with NASA logos look and feel real, and students buy in.
“They believe that they are doing a job and a task for NASA,” said Personette. “Even middle schoolers get immersed in the story.” Borland and Personette see space simulations as the core of the CLC’s educational programming.
Those control panels, however, haven’t been touched since March. Around June 1, a team made up of Borland, flight director William Figueroa, Layne Mikesell and Christina Hagenbeck made an ambitious decision. They would develop a virtual space simulation.
To do so, they wrote a premise and storyline from scratch, provided for 12
↑ Screenshot, top, illustrates virtual space simulation developed at the Challenger Learning Center in Tallahassee. ↑ A student, above, in Nancy Rosenbaum’s 5th-grade class at the Florida State University School is lost in space.
FAR OUT
Challenger Learning Centers spark a passion for learning by immersing students in virtual adventures such as becoming part of the team searching for a Hawaiian monk seal that’s gone missing; working with paleontologists identifying bones of a ground sloth; supporting park rangers on their quest to identify a plant that could destroy the Smoky Mountains — or manning a NASA control center and landing a probe on Jupiter’s ice moon.
different two-person teams, each with its own set of tasks, and manipulated the required technologies to enact their vision. The job took about six weeks, Borland said.
The finished product is the Europa Encounter, an endeavor in which 24 Mission Control personnel assist a Mission Commander (discreetly a CLC staff member) in traveling by probe to Jupiter’s ice moon, Europa. The year is 2042.
The teams handle diverse tasks. The Navigation team, for example, must calculate the exact escape velocity to exit Europa’s field of gravity, while the Hazard team orients solar panels at the optimal energyproducing angles to the sun. The magic happens when the Nav and Haz teams interact to “If we can help one accomplish the mission. Challenger Center
Full Service Hearing Care “The hardest thing is trying to make sure that the pieces fit together,” said Borland. “You don’t want students to feel like keep its doors open because we helped create a revenue Audiology Associates and Tallahassee ENT: The only clinic in Tallahassee with both Doctors of Audiology and ENT Physicians, so you receive the most experienced and professional care. Comprehensive hearing care means HEARING LOSS PREVENTION, they’re in a vacuum.” Students can get questions answered at a “NASA Help Desk.” Teachers track student progress on a Google Forms platform. The curriculum includes optional pre- and postmission lesson plans. stream, and we can keep the mission of those (Challenger) astronauts and their families alive, that is the root of my soul.” DETECTION AND CORRECTION But the feature that truly elevates the Europa Encounter is its ability to simultaneously — Susan Borland, CLC Education Director incorporate classroom and remote students equipped with devices. This is likely why the Europa Encounter has created such a buzz in the national Challenger Learning Center community. As of today, 20 CLCs from Bangor, Maine, to Kenai, Alaska, • 1405 Centerville Road, Suite 5400 have incorporated it into their curriculum. The Tallahassee CLC is offering Europa Encounter to other CLCs at no cost. Financial viability is a concern for • 2625 Mitcham Driveall CLCs. Each operates independently, but the CLCs are united by a shared mission. “If we can help one Challenger Center keep its doors open because we helped create a revenue stream, and we 850.616.6796Experience you can trust Contact us now at 850-877-0101 can keep the mission of those (Challenger) astronauts and their families alive, that is the root of my soul,” Borland said. The success of the Europa Encounter is a manifestation of the Tallahassee CLC’s tireless and innovative spirit.Two locations | 1405 Centerville Road #5400 | 2625 Mitcham Drive www.TallahasseeHearingHelp.com • www.TallyENT.com“It’s not if you’re going to do it, it’s how you’re going to TallahasseeHearingHelp.com do it,” Borland said. “To borrow a NASA phrase, failure is not an option.” TM
