Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Former NASA Astronaut, Charles Bolden, to Announce Bonaire Contest Winners

Former NASA astronaut Charles Bolden will land on Bonaire November 25th, with the goal of speaking with students and awarding prizes in the space essay and poster contests.  He will be met at the airport by Lt. Governor Herbert Domacasse and officially welcomed to the island.

Monday evening, November 27th, there will be a Press Conference at the Divi Flamingo Hotel where Astronaut Bolden will announce the winners of the poster and essay contests and present the prizes to the winners.  Over 100 students from the 6th class, SGB, Pelikaan School, and UniCollege entered the poster and essay contests. 

He will begin his school meetings with six classes of the basic schools on Monday morning in the Sala Grandi at Jong Bonaire.  Sixth grade students from Reina Beatrix and Papa Cornes will meet with the astronaut at 9 am and students from St. Bernardus, Louis Bertran and Kristo Bon Wardador will get to meet him at 10:30.

On Tuesday, November 28th, the astronaut will meet with students of UniCollege and the Pelikaan School in the morning at 8 am and then visit the teens at Jong Bonaire in the afternoon.  Participants of FORMA programs are invited to join the Jong Bonaire session as well as any SGB students who will not get to hear the astronaut speak at SGB.  The Jong Bonaire session will be from 4:00 to 5:30 PM.

Wednesday, November 29th, there will be several sessions at SGB, from 7:30 in the morning until 12:30 PM, after which Astronaut Bolden will enjoy lunch with the Rotary Bonaire.  On Thursday evening, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, Astronaut Bolden will make a presentation to the community in the auditorium at Jong Bonaire.  The community meeting is open to all and parents are welcome to bring young children.  There is no charge for this event.

When he is not making a presentation to one of the schools or the community, the former astronaut will try to take in some of Bonaire’s scuba diving and perhaps try windsurfing. General Bolden is a scuba diver and he is visiting Bonaire for the first time.

Sponsors for the astronaut’s visit are ReMax Real Estate, Support Bonaire Foundation, Divi Flamingo Hotel, Hertz Car Rental, Jong Bonaire, The Pelikaan School, Jake Richter & family, and the Buchbinders.  The astronaut’s visit has been endorsed by the Board of Education, the RK Schoolbestuur and SGB.  The visit of the former astronaut has been arranged by Bonaire residents Ben and Laura Buchbinder.  Ben Buchbinder worked for NASA for many years before retiring to Bonaire.  It was during his NASA work that he became friends with Bolden.  Buchbinder has also been a consultant to the Hubble Space Telescope project.  During his volunteer work at Pelikaan School Buchbinder realized that a number of young people were very interested in space and so he decided to invite the astronaut to talk with Bonaire’s youth.  (Source:  Press Release)