KELSEYVILLE — The Taylor Observatory hosted a space exploration workshop on Saturday. Lake County decathletes and their coaches attended the workshop to help prepare them for their competition on Russia and the Great Space Race later this year.
Students were treated to a classroom presentation, full dome planetarium movies and rocket demonstrations. Barbara McIntyre and Ed Giannelli led the classroom presentation, detailing the chronology of the moon race and the top Russian rocket scientists.
Student volunteers led the discussion in the planetarium, showing the movies “Rocketman” and “Interstellar Boundary Explorer.” Students finished up their day tracking the altitude of a variety of rockets, led by Bill Bordisso with the assistance of Angie and Josh Wade. This workshop was offered free of charge to decathletes with the help of the Taylor Observatory and the Lake County Office of Education College-Going Initiative.
Earlier this year, students were treated to a movie night at Jellystone RV Park and Camp Resort on Cobb Mountain. Decathletes bundled up for a chilly evening showing of the 1968 movie “The Sea Gull,” directed by Sidney Lumet on the outdoor screen. The 2.5-hour movie was chosen by Academic Decathlon coaches as an example of Anton Chekhov”s style. The students are required to read the novel “Dr. Zhivago.”
Decathletes from Lower Lake, Upper Lake, Clear Lake, Middletown and Kelseyville high schools will continue to learn about Russia as they prepare to compete for the opportunity to represent Lake County at the state finals in March. Students are invited to participate in a scrimmage in November and will start their official testing in January. Testing concludes on Feb. 2, followed by the Super Quiz Bowl and awards ceremony.
For more information on the Academic Decathlon or to be a speech/interview judge, contact Tammy Serpa at the Lake County Office of Education, 262-4164 or tserpa@lakecoe.org.
