The stars shone brightly last Wednesday evening at a Celestial Celebration: An Evening among the Stars at the Vero Beach Museum of Art hosted by The Learning Alliance. The theme was a nod to the community supporters and educators involved in the Moonshot Moment literacy initiative.
Over the course of this school year, Stephanie Roth Sisson’s book “Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos” was used to inspire students by reading about the famed astronomer, astrophysicist and researcher whose contributions were crucial to NASA and space exploration.
More than 250 literacy supporters began with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the Buck Atrium while listening to the sounds of James Broxton and the Essence of Sound Band. To further illuminate the spirit of the evening, Hallstrom Planetarium Director Jon Bell and his fellow astrophiles set up telescopes outside for guests to get a close-up look at celestial objects.
After moving into the Holmes Great Hall for a dinner catered by Elizabeth D. Kennedy & Co., the lights went out, plunging the room into pitch-black darkness before stars lit up the ceiling, creating the illusion of the night sky with celestial images wafting overhead.
The enlightening scene segued nicely into a video presentation about “Star Stuff” in which Sagan was quoted as saying, “After reading my first book about stars, the scale of the universe opened up to me.” The segment ended with a statement about the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, “Imagine if young Carl Sagan never learned to read.”
Before the lights came up, performers from Groovolution Entertainment pumped up the crowd with a choreographed dance using a rainbow of LED lights to “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”
The Learning Alliance launched its literacy initiative seven years ago and in 2012 spawned the community-wide Moonshot Moment goal of achieving 90 percent grade-level literacy by third grade by 2018.
Sharing the status of that ambitious goal, Ray Oglethorpe, TLA chairman said, “We thought they were well on their way to success. We learned we could get kids to read the words, but they might not have the vocabulary to understand what the words are.”
He said that as they uncovered new challenges in the ever-changing landscape, vocabulary and fluency programs were implemented, after-school and summer programs were developed, and social and emotional literacy programs were integrated.
“When we started, 42 percent of the student body in K-3 was on free and reduced lunch. Now that number is at 70 percent. We found that those economically disadvantaged students needed more time,” Oglethorpe explained.
“We are holding to our 90 percent goal. Not only is that goal morally right, but it’s also absolutely vital for the economic health of this nation. Frederick Douglass once said, ‘It’s easier to build strong children than repair broken men.’ In Indian River County we’re trying to build strong children who will be literate, creative and compassionate citizens in this world with the social and emotional grit to succeed.”