While I love poetry, I'm not very good at it, but I will tell you what I remember of that day...

I'm "dating" myself here (showing my age), but I remember being in the 3rd grade, in Mrs. Saiki's class, and learning about charcoal art from a teacher (who traveled from class to class) who couldn't see.  Mr. Sakamoto was SO blind that he had to put the paper up to his face to see.  An Art teacher!  Imagine that!  Anyway, I remember  watching it "delayed" because we were in Hawaii and seeing it all unfold.  It was my first "I remember when..." moment because Ellison Onizuka, one of the astronauts on the flight, was from Hawaii.  In days later, I remember we all learned about Mr. Onizuka's passion.  In "those days," momentus occasions were watched live.  I remember Mrs. Saiki not knowing what to say about it...imagine her class' disbelief in seeing their teacher break down in tears.

I was also reminded of it years later, when I was in classes to become a teacher.  My Science Methods teacher was #2 in line and had done all the training in case Christa McAuliffe dfdn't end up going.  Bob Stark , my professor in college, couldn't say enough wonderful things of the lady who paved the way for teachers to bring space science into their classrooms.