Eighth-grader takes some cues from science-fiction to win national essay contest
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According to Chris Besser's vision of Earth's future, in the year 2050, the ozone layer is rebuilding itself, polar ice caps are returning, and rodents are a source of protein for man's first colonization of space.
And, if you want to be one of the 500 families orbiting the planet on this vast space station, you'd better be good at math.
Chris, an eighth-grader at Upper St. Clair's Fort Couch Middle School, is in California this week, his grand prize for winning a national essay contest.
Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-born telecommunications entrepreneur who has spent time aboard the International Space Station, sponsored the annual event.
Middle-school students were encouraged to write essays that pondered questions including: "What if we had an orbiting space habitat for 500 families as the first in building colonies on the moon or Mars?
"What if you were one of the students in the 'First Space Generation Middle School' onboard this orbital station?"
"Chris reads a lot of science-fiction, so I'm not really surprised," said his father, Doug Besser. "He enjoys entering these contests."
Mr. Besser, Chris and Pat Palazzolo, the gifted education coordinator for USC grades 7-12, flew to NASA's Ames Research Center near San Francisco yesterday, courtesy of the contest sponsors. In addition, Chris will receive a $1,000 scholarship and Ms. Ansari will come to Fort Couch to speak at a future date.
Sue Fleckenstein, the gifted coordinator specifically for grades 7-8 in the district, also worked with Chris on the project.
"Chris is an excellent writer of all types of subjects," Mrs. Palazzolo said. She said this was his biggest contest win, although certainly not the first.
His previous works included poetry about autism, a short story about the global implications of disease titled "A Lesson of Epidemic Proportions," a story about the extinction of the Dodo bird, and an ode to that icon of New York City, the "Naked Cowboy."
The guitar-playing Cowboy, incidentally, wears underwear, a cowboy hat and boots.
"My dad was in New York to be on 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' and I saw him while we were walking through Times Square," Chris said.
Writing about autism was a more poignant experience, as Chris' brother, Nick, 12, is autistic. The family also includes his mother, Mary Ann, brother Michael, 10, and sister Sarah, 7.
"I think, being around a brother with a disability, he's far more understanding than most kids his age," Mrs. Besser said.
Part of the experience for Chris and his entourage this week includes attending the Conrad Innovation Summit as well as presenting his winning essay there.
Chris built a display board that centers on the "What If?" theme, shipping it to California ahead of him. His biggest day is tomorrow, with the presentation and workshops.
"It's kind of a whirlwind tour," said Mr. Besser, who said they'll work in some time for sightseeing, including an evening tour of Alcatraz.
Chris will also take a gift to one of the American astronauts at NASA Ames. Ed Lu, a veteran of space shuttle flights and work on the ISS, is a former wrestler still enthusiastic for the sport.
"Chris is going to take him an Upper St. Clair wrestling shirt," Mrs. Palazzolo said.
The 2,000-word essay was written in first person, with Chris imagining himself a student living and going to school in the space colony.
The entire essay can be found at post-gazette.com; excerpts from it highlight the research and thought he has put into his evaluation. In a section on mathematics, he writes, "Math is taught at a different pace here than it is back on Earth. It seems as though everything we do has to be calculated, from our food consumption to adjusting our orbit trajectory.
"A missed calculation could result in disaster for the inhabitants of this station. Only those children and their parents who show ability in math have been included among the 500 families on board."
In his conclusion, he threw in a little bit of "Star Trek" with this: "Without space colonization -- when the sun burns out -- so will our species. With our space colony, we can someday go where no man has gone before."
First Published April 2, 2009 12:00 am
