Proposed Challenger Center would focus on STEM education activities for seven-county area

In talking to Etowah County Commission members about the proposed Northeast Alabama Challenger Learning Center, Allen Millican told them to think about what they are doing at the Northeast Alabama Regional Megasite.

Specifically, he referenced site clearing and groundwork, establishing availability of utilities and infrastructure to provide what prospective industries will need to locate there.

The proposed Challenger Center, Millican told the commission on Tuesday, is a way to help provide the other element that will be needed by industries: people for a modern, tech-oriented workforce.

As the commission is building a foundation for prospective industries at the megasite, the center would work to lay a foundation of interest and experience in STEM subjects in the young people that will one day work at industries locating there.

Millican, a retired judge and member of the Gadsden City Board of Education, is part of the Challenger Center Taskforce — a group working to build support and seek funding to establish a center in Northeast Alabama, in the Gadsden-Etowah County area, they hope.

It's an area, he said, where science and math scores are lagging.

Millican explained there are 44 Challenger Learning Centers across the country and three in other countries. (This would be the first one in Alabama; the closest is in Chattanooga, Tennessee.)

They draw their name from the space shuttle destroyed in 1986 in what was to have been an education-centric mission. Their parent organization, the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, is a nonprofit founded by the families of the astronauts who died on that shuttle.

The centers create what Brett Johnson, Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford's chief of staff, described as "mini-space and rocket centers" that allow students a hands-on, space-themed STEM experience in specially fabricated rooms.

It allows them to “launch” a space shuttle, with students working in a model shuttle, or in mission control.

Millican said what differentiates the Challenger Center format from the Alabama Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville is access; families have to have enough money to send their children to space camp, while the Challenger Center would be available for all school children in a seven-county area, including Etowah, Marshall, DeKalb, Cherokee, Blount, St. Clair and Calhoun counties.

The centers’ missions are aimed at fifth- through eighth-graders, but scalable to older students, too. Millican said the goal is build students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math, while also enhancing their critical thinking skills and teamwork — things that will help them throughout their education and in whatever career path they choose.

Millican and other task force members are seeking support from local governing bodies for the project — initially, a letter of support to take to Gov. Kay Ivey, seeking a place in the governor's budget.

The Gadsden City Council approved a resolution of support for the center; the commission was asked Tuesday to consider doing so.

In both governing bodies, there was enthusiasm for the project and the message that it would send to industrial prospects: a commitment to preparing students for the kinds of jobs county and city governments are working to bring to the Gadsden-Etowah County area.

Millican said building a center could cost $5 million to $6 million, after an initial $50,000 buy-in. “It's almost like buying a franchise," he said.

Task force member Teresa Rhea said the group is looking for potential locations now; the cost will depend on whether a new facility is built, or an existing building renovated.

Task force members want the center to be located in the Gadsden-Etowah County area. Rhea, retired enrollment director at Gadsden State Community College, said it's got to be within a 90-minute bus ride to make it a workable site for all the counties it expects to serve.

Johnson said the City of Gadsden is working to help find a site in the Gadsden city limits for the facility that should become an "education destination" for Northeast Alabama and perhaps beyond.

Millican said the task force will be going to other commissions or city councils in the other six counties it seeks to serve through the center.

The task force consists of Jeff Boyd, Rainbow City developmental director; Barry Cherry, co-owner of Hokes Bluff Welding and Fab; Tina Gregerson, president/owner of Personnel Staffing; Craig Inzer, Etowah County commissioner/owner Little Bridge Marina; Martha Lavender, retired president, Gadsden State Community College; Jennifer Maddox, president/CEO of Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama; Millican; Nanda Patel, owner, Holiday Inn Express, community advocate; Jeff Prince, Rainbow City Council member, Rhea; Tony Smith, manager, Alabama Power Company; Elaine Spearman, retired attorney, community advocate; Joe Taylor, mayor of Rainbow City; Mark Weaver, businessman/human resource director at Stamped Products Inc.; and Spencer Williams, community relations manager, Alabama Power Company.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Group seeks Challenger Center support to shore up STEM interest