A new Cochrane resident is preparing to ignite the imaginations of youth with the relaunch of a space education program he and his son started in Toronto nearly a decade ago.
Ray Bielecki is a space nut. That fact is evident by his basement that is a virtual shrine to all things celestial. From model rockets to autographed pictures of astronauts – including William Shatner's fictional Captain James T. Kirk – to coffee mugs with rocket ships on them, Bielecki has always been fascinated by the stars.
He comes by his passion honestly. His father worked on the Canadarm – our nation's iconic contribution to the International Space Station – and his son has been fascinated by the space program from an early age.
"My son, Brett, was always interested in technology and space-related things. I was between the two – my dad passed away a year before Brett was born and they were identical characters, builders, inventors," said Bielecki who harnessed those two influences in his life to develop the aptly named AstroNuts Kids Space Club.
To say the program was a success would be an understatement.
"We were bringing in at least 40 kids and we could have brought in a lot more in but there was no room in the house," said Bielecki.
From rocket-building to talks with space educators, to science and space-related field trips, AstroNuts' monthly sessions were designed to inspire creativity and innovation.
"We offer a fun smorgasbord of everything – astronomy, rocketry – all on a very casual basis," said Bielecki, adding the children, from Grade 1 to Grade 8 are pooled together in an environment where they contribute equally.
"It just took off. So we started the AstroNuts Space Camp Day because all these parents were knocking on the door," he added.
With the help of Canadian astronaut Dr. Dave Williams, who donated the auditorium of the South Lake Regional Hospital – where he was the CEO at the time – and agreed to be the keynote speaker for the event, the first camp pulled in "hundreds" of children.
"I think there is such a keen interest in children loving the environment around them and looking across horizons and seeing what space is all about," said Bielecki of the success of the program. "A lot of these kids that come on board want to be teachers, want to be engineers, want to be astronauts and providing a space for them to learn opens up more doors in their mind as to where they want to go."
For one former AstroNut, the program opened a door to one of the most prestigious science and technology schools in the world.
"She always loved astrobiology and when she joined she was quiet and humble but she was presenting in science fairs and winning championships and her dad wrote to me saying ... my daughter was just accepted to MIT," Bielecki said, adding the parent was grateful not only for the experience the club provided but the networking opportunities with educators and those in the field of science and technology it afforded.
Bielecki, who last month was a presenter at the Telus SPARK 50th anniversary Apollo 11 celebration showing off his various Apollo LEGO, Saturn V and LM (lunar module) scale models, said reflecting on how far technology has come since Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, there is no better time to get young people involved with technology.
Bielecki underpinned his case by pointing to the advancements in space travel and research on the International Space Station that have contributed to multiple fields, such as child micro-surgery and the need for similar advancement to solve problems prevalent on Earth.
"We’re all relying on this next generation to make it all work because their minds are open to ideas and concepts and they question and they take what they’ve learned in the past three, four years or five years with these old technologies and have pushed through them," he said. "Young people especially are seeing the value of doing space initiatives because they are seeing the payback. We have to find answers and if we are not finding them here we have to extrapolate and go to where we can create situations and get answers," he said.
Bielecki is hoping to kick off the club this September and is looking for volunteers, partners and connections to help make it a success.
To contact Bielkecki about volunteering or assisting, email [email protected].
For more information on the club, visit astronutskidsspaceclub.com
