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 Gator Bytes
Dickinson Independent School District
E-Newsletter
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281-337-6797
TACL A4171C |
| Contact Us | |
2218 FM 517 East
Dickinson, Texas 77539
281-229-6000
Visit us on the Web:
www.dickinsonisd.org
Follow us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/
dickinsonschools
Follow us on Twitter
#dickinsonisd |
| District Events | |
Stay informed about Dickinson ISD events, games, programs and other important dates. Click here to visit the Dickinson ISD District Events Calendar page. |
| Open Houses |
Barber & Dunbar Middle Schools
Thursday, September 5
5:45-6 p.m.
AEIS, Parent Involvement and
Title I General Meeting
6-7:30 p.m.
Open House (rotate through classes)
McAdams Junior High
Thursday, August 29
5:30-7 p.m.
Dickinson High School
Monday, September 16
6:30-7 p.m.
PTO Meeting
7-8:30 p.m.
Open House |
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WELCOME BACK
DICKINSON ISD STUDENTS
FOR THE 2013-2014 SCHOOL YEAR!
School Starts Monday, August 26
Time is ticking away as the start of the 2013-2014 school year is fast approaching. Teachers are back at work this week in staff development and getting classrooms ready for the return of students on Monday, August 26. Hours for students in grades 5-12 at the secondary schools are 7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., while elementary school (Pre-K - 4) hours are 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Important Back to School Links:
* Bus Schedules - enter your address to find out bus schedules or to find out which school you children will attend. |
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Get Ready for Gator Football...
Football Scrimmage set for 7 p.m. August 23
 The Dickinson High School Gator football season will kickoff this Friday night, August 23 with a 7 p.m. scrimmage game at Sam Vitanza Stadium against Dobie High School.
The football team is starting a new tradition this year by charging a $1 admission to the scrimmage. All proceeds will go to the Texas High School Coaches Association Education Foundation Benevolence Fund to assist athletes and coaches with special needs or hardships.
"Meet the Gator" planned for 6:30 p.m. August 28
The Gator Football Booster Club will be helping kickoff the fall semester with a "Meet the Gators" Night scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28 at Sam Vitanza Stadium. The event, which is open to the public, will showcase fall sports as well as the Dickinson High School Marching Band, the Dickinson Diamonds and the Cheerleaders. Players and coaches for tennis, golf, cross country, volleyball and football wll be introduced. |
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Dickinson ISD students trade summertime to work
on experiments for International Space Station
Summertime for kids is made up of sleeping late, playing video games, swimming and vacations, but not for two Dickinson ISD brothers. Nicholas and Thomas Hall decided they wanted a chance to make history this summer by creating two experiments that will be tested on the International Space Station (ISS).
"I don't think there is anybody our age that has ever had the chance to do what we are doing," Thomas said. "This is a chance that we can be a part of history in the making."
 The two brothers have an uncle, Rob Alexander, who works for Nanoracks, a 'Plug and Play' microgravity research facility allowing small standardized payloads to be plugged into any platform, providing interface with the International Space Station power and data capabilities.
"Nanoracks was founded just a couple of years ago after President Bush and Obama encouraged more use of the space flight and the International Space Station," Alexander said. "What we did is we built a couple of drawers on the space station where the astronauts can open up and stick in one of our cubes and import the data. Scientists can fit their experiments inside this cube."
Alexander said they negotiated with NASA to have a certain amount of space on the space station, as well as being able to have their products launch on the cargo flights that travel there. The company contracts with anyone who has an experiment they would like to be tested in space for a fee of $60,000. For that fee, Nanoracks will load your experiment in a sealed medal cube container and send it into orbit. Once on the space station, astronauts will do the tests and send the results back. There has been everything from satellites, computers, and food. Some of the satellites have even been shot off of the space station for testing.
Nicholas, a 13-year old eighth grader at McAdams Junior High, and Thomas, a 15-year old sophomore at Dickinson High School, both developed toothpaste and cheese that can be used in space. The brothers were given the opportunity for the experiments due, in part, to the Foundation for International Space Education (FISE). FISE was created by Nanoracks for the purpose of allowing Public and private schools, along with higher educational entities, to have a chance to create and learn about space.
"These guys get this chance because nobody wants to be the first to go up in a new vehicle to space, for fear their experiments might not make it, after they have put a lot of time and money into them," Alexander said. "The foundation allows educational outlets to have great projects in space."
Dickinson ISD was given this opportunity because of the DreamUp program. Powered by Nanoracks, the program helps accredited schools in the United States design, build and conduct experiments in space on the U.S. National Laboratory aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It is one of the core programs offered by The Conrad Foundation.
Through DreamUp, junior high, high school and undergraduate college students can take advantage of NanoRacks' two standardized research platforms aboard the ISS.
"Once the formulas are completed, we have to put them in these tubes, where it is sealed," Thomas said. "Then it goes into the cubes, or boxes, as we like to call them. That is how they will go up to the space station. There was a lot that went into the development of the formulas, but I think we have it down now."
Nicholas said they had to do things like mix up the formulas and shake them up and study what happens to them on earth and at the same time, what might happen to them in space. "There is a lot more to it than I originally thought," he said. "We have been working on this for what seems like a year."
The products are scheduled for the September 6 space launch on NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). The LADEE spacecraft's modular common spacecraft bus, or body, is an innovative way of transitioning away from custom designs and toward multi-use designs and assembly-line production, which could drastically reduce the cost of spacecraft development, just as the Ford Model T did for automobiles.
"This is the first of its kind for space travel so it's very exciting for these guys," Alexander said. "To have some students from Dickinson ISD to be doing this is very exciting for us and them. We should have the results back down to us in about a month after the launch. We are hoping to get even more students from Dickinson involved in our projects. In fact, we have been in touch with Dr. Smith, principal at Dickinson High School, about doing some other things with them in the near future."
The boys say they do enjoy other things in the summer, but creating this project has kept them very busy, but has been fun. "We just like doing this," Nicholas said. "But we can't wait to hopefully see the launch on TV and then get the results back."
Neither one said they wanted to be an astronaut when they grew up, but they do want to continue working with space experiments.
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Four DHS students attend Boys State Program
 Four young men from Dickinson High School represented the school this summer at the Boys State Program at the University of Texas in Austin. Pictured, left to right, are senior Sage Babcock, 2013 DHS graduate Christopher Trautman, senior Christopher Collins and senior Santiago Zermeno Guerra. The three incoming seniors were selected by the school as representatives for the program, while Trautman was a representative last year and returned this year as a counselor.
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