Last week Kiera Wilmot, a 16 year old with an inquisitive mind and a passion for science, had not intended to create anything harmful but her experiment of mixing cleaning solution and tin foil in a hallway at her school proved to be explosive.
Though no one was harmed in the incident, despite being a very promising student Kiera was expelled from her school and charged with a felony crime when school, city and county officials decided to take a very hard line on their zero tolerance policy for “weapons” in school. That’s where retired NASA Engineer Homer Hickam came in, and came to Kiera’s aid.
Hickam’s own story of youthful scientific exploits and dreams of escaping the economically depressed coalmine town of his youth are set down in his memoir, Rocket Boys (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $7.99).
The bestselling book was eventually made into a wonderful family film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Laura Dern: October Sky (PG, 5/5 stars, currently priced at $2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy).
Having faced unsympathetic and unsupportive adults himself as a boy, and having endured a science experiment -related arrest of his own in his youth, Hickam was anxious to step in on Ms. Wilmot’s behalf.
From BoingBoing:
Homer Hickam — the writer and former NASA engineer whose memoir is the basis of the movie October Sky — started a Crowdtilt campaign to send Wilmot and her twin sister Kayla to the Advanced Space Academy program at the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.. The cost of space camp can run upwards of $1200. Hickam paid for Kiera Wilmot to go and the Crowdtilt campaign raised the other $1200 for her sister, plus extra money for their travel expenses. The campaign hit its $2500 goal in just two days and is now up to $2920. Hickam says the extra money is going to the girls’ mother.
A second Crowdtilt campaign raised more than $8000 for a Kiera Wilmot Defense Fund. Now that the charges have been dropped, that money will go into a trust, to pay the few legal expenses the family does have and to cover costs associated with Wilmot’s education — especially since it’s still unclear whether she’ll be allowed back into the local public school.
Since leaving his career in engineering, Hickam has gone on to publish two more memoirs based on the (literally!) rocket-fueled days of his teenage years: The Coalwood Way (5/5 stars, currently priced at $7.99) and Sky of Stone (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $7.99).
Hickam is one of the last century’s “everyman” heroes. He didn’t get to go into space, but he had an impact on the Space Age, and who knows how many youngsters he’s encouraged (through his books and the excellent movie) to enter the Space industry? Talk about pulling oneself by one’s bootstraps…and the fact that no one makes it all by himself.