The Lake Washington Schools Foundation set its sights on the stars during its sixth annual “A Legacy for Learning” benefit luncheon at Juanita High School on Wednesday. The fund raiser, which drew 530 perspective donors who packed the school’s field house, brought in $145,500 and featured keynote speaker, former astronaut, Dr. Bonnie J. Dunbar.
“The stars just aligned,” said Dunbar, about speaking at the event. “It was mostly timing. I just finished fund raising for another school. If I could go to every school I would.”
Education is very important to Dunbar, who grew up in a small Eastern Washington town and attended a high school of just 150 students. Dunbar, who is an engineer, said that going from a rural town to being an astronaut is all about the person’s environment.
“It’s all about choices and the people around you,” said Dunbar, who has flown on five missions into space. “… Education is a gift that isn’t always there.”
The first set of books her parents purchased were a set of encyclopedias.
“The most common phrase in our house was ‘look it up,'” said Dunbar, who was the executive director of the Museum of Flight.
She said that when she was 8 years old she went out to look at Sputnik and it changed her life. After that experience she would always look for books by authors such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. She said that she had all of her friends convinced she was an alien because she knew all the terminology.
“The phrase that always stumped them was ‘I am from the third planet from the sun.’ I hope you all get that,” Dunbar said to a room full of laughter.
But it was the reply from a teacher, Mr. Miller, that helped to set her on her course.
“He said I could not build or fly a spaceship without algebra,” said Dunbar, who in turn taught herself algebra.
At the end of high school she wrote to NASA but was denied entry and was told she needed a college education.
She applied to Caltech and was told they did not accept women and a second university was too expensive for her family to afford. Dunbar was eventually accepted at the University of Washington where she used the ACT Scholarship, set up by the federal government to help in the space race.
Eventually she would get a job at NASA working on the space shuttle. In 1977 NASA opened up the astronaut program to women and Dunbar was accepted in 1980.
“It was people around me that made the difference,” said Dunbar, who is the executive director of Wings Over Washington. “Engineers transform our world.”
Dunbar’s final message to the attendees was an acronym SRU – Self Replacement Unit – in reference to helping current students with their education.
“We all have a duty to replace ourselves,” said Dunbar.
After the event Dunbar said that events such as the Foundation benefit are extremely important to her.
“There has to be a mechanism to support students,” said Dunbar. “Every student should learn math, science and chemistry because that is the world around us,” said Dunbar.
The event also gave Lake Washington School District Superintendent Chip Kimball a chance to promote the district’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program. The event is designed to raise money for the district’s programs and grants.
“We are faced with one of the most difficult economic times in our history,” said Kimball, citing the loss of $10 million in state funds in the past three years. “We have a compelling vision that every student will be prepared when they graduate high school. Our priority is our children.”
Kimball himself wrote a check for $1,000 to the Foundation. The Foundation board of directors also announced that it would match every donation of $350 or more.
