PRETORIA: Kennedy Space Center Worker Presents US Space Program to 300 Mamelodi Schoolchildren

"Gabe" Gabrielle, a facility project programmer for Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Station, used video clips and still photos to bring the US space program to life for 300 secondary school students at the University of Pretoria's campus in Mamelodi, a black, economically disadvantaged township north-east of the city center, on July 16, 2008. Gabe was programmed by the US Embassy's Information Resource Center as a target of opportunity speaker. The grade 9-12 pupils, from three schools within walking distance of the campus, where the US Embassy plans to open a US Science Reading Room later this year, responded enthusiastically to Gabe's presentation, inundating him with questions about the space program. The students were accompanied by science and math teachers, as well as a school district official from the provincial education department. The campus director, Edwin Smith, introduced Gabe to the students, and encouraged them to use the science reading room when it opens.

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