Tag Archives: Rob McClendon

On the Horizon: Mission to Planet Earth

A few months ago I was invited to travel with some teachers from Oklahoma down to the NASA Johnson Space Center. Since I had never been there before, I was excited to go even though it meant giving up a weekend, I didn’t care. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The teachers were going as part of the Oklahoma NASA Space Grant Consortium’s Mission to Planet Earth training that happens each summer. It’s an eleven day intense training to enable teachers to teach the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, math) in their every day classrooms. As part of that training, the teachers go to NASA Johnson Space Center to see how NASA does STEM. The teachers love it!

I wish that some of my teachers would have had the same opportunity when I was in school. Who knows, I may have gone into a different field of work. I’m not the greatest at math and only a little better at science but if I’d had hands-on training like these teachers are now doing, I may have understood it better and enjoyed it enough to maybe have made a career in one of the sciences. But while I may not be in a STEM field I can certainly showcase it.

In this week’s video blog, see how NASA is training teachers in the attempt to create a new NASA workforce.
Alisa Hines

On the Horizon: Einstein for a Day

As the world progresses and things become even more technical, it is vital for our youth to be well versed, not only with computers, but in sciences. They will be looking for jobs where skills in science, technology, engineering and math are necessary. I was not the best in those subjects so I focused on English. But it’s now at a point where these subject areas are no longer an option.

In today’s video blog, we take a look at an organization that leads students through the STEM fields in an interactive, hands-on approach.
Andy Barth

On the Horizon: Can we move forward?

This past summer, I was able to drive through the Midwest and was shocked and saddened by the vast amounts of corn, soybean and wheat fields that were already dried out in early summer from no rain. Having experienced the severe drought the previous year, I knew what farmers and ranchers were going through. I spoke with one gentleman in Illinois who was feeding his cattle in a feedlot because there wasn’t enough grass to last the summer.

This story is the same for most producers up and down the Midwest. Now that the election is over, agriculturalists hope lawmakers will begin focusing on issues facing their industry. The big two are the drought and the lack of a new farm bill.

In this week’s video blog, we take a look at those two topics and how farm broadcasters feel about them and what they are doing to speak up for agriculture.
Andy Barth

On the Horizon: Ag Grads Needed

Agriculture has always been a part of my life. Growing up on a farm and knowing the importance of where our food comes from is something that my parents and grandparents instilled in me since I was young. When the time came to look into colleges, I knew I wanted to do something with media and if possible also gain a better understanding of agriculture and the world around me. Agricultural Communications seemed like the obvious solution.

Upon coming to the conclusion that this degree choice was for me, I looked more in-depth at how I could benefit from studying this topic and was pleasantly surprised to find out that graduates with an agricultural degree have a higher job placement rate than many other degree choices.

In this week’s video blog, see how a demand for agricultural graduates in today’s workforce is causing an increase in enrollment numbers at colleges.
Kela Kelln

On the Horizon: Cash It In–Tribal Impact

We all see them as we drive down the road. Huge buildings, with flashing lights, and parking lots that are always full – casinos. Once inside, the sound of slot machines turning and cards shuffling offers an appealing atmosphere to those who wish to participate. While an individual hopes to win the next mega jackpot, Native American tribes automatically win money every time someone walks through the door. And with every dollar made from the casinos, Oklahoma’s economy grows too.

In this week’s video blog, we take a look at the how the gaming industry brings growth and entertainment to the state.
Andy Barth