[Vision2020] January 28, 1986

[Jennifer Ingalls]

I was in the fifth grade at Eastside Elementary in Athens, Ohio, where we
lived for one year when my dad did a faculty exchange. My fifth grade
teacher had an undergraduate degree in herpetology (or perhaps just a
biology degree coupled with an unnatural affinity for reptiles and
amphibians--we had a rather large boa in the classroom). Mr. Carole was
either a finalist to be the teacher in space or at least an avid competitor
for that position, so our class had really studied NASA and the space
program leading up to the launch (incidentally, my dad grew up in Cocoa, FL,
a neighboring town to Port (Cape) Canaveral, so my family also had some
interest in this launch). I remember we watched the launch that day in such
eager anticipation. 

While I do not have a specific memory of whether I cried, I remember Mr.
Carole being devastated. I remember the image repeating, either in my head
or on the screen, over and over. I remember the stillness of the room. 

That same year at Eastside Elementary we performed "Mr. Carole's Room
Shuffle" (modeled after the "Super Bowl Shuffle"), and all-school rendition
of "We Are the World" (since the University attracted a lot of foreign
students and my school was close to campus), and "The Wizard of Oz." I also
received a perfect attendance award of which I was perhaps neridly-proud.
However, no other moment emblazoned itself with such imagery as did that one
in that very important year of my young life.

Jennifer L. Ingalls
Inland Northwest Broadcasting
PO Box 8849
Moscow, Idaho 83843
 
Office: 208.882.2551
Fax: 208.883.3571
Cell: 208.669.1713

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