TOLEDO—Toledo Central Catholic High School (CCHS) held a luncheon March 18 celebrating women in science. The luncheon was the inaugural event in the school’s Kranz SPACE Room, which houses the lunar sample that is part of the Ambassador of Exploration award that NASA presented to Gene Kranz (CCHS Class of 1951) last December. Mr. Kranz dedicated his award to CCHS.

Junior girls from Central Catholic’s upper level science classes were invited to have lunch and take part in the presentation in the SPACE (Stars, Planets, And Creative Exploration) Room. Appropriately held during Women’s History Month, the event was designed to inspire women to take an active interest in math and science.

CCHS Information and Technology teacher Paula Domitio was instrumental in planning the day’s events. She began by showing a Power Point presentation about the space missions leading up to the moon landing. She explained to the students she feels strongly about women in education and science. Although she is not a science teacher, she wanted to be involved in this presentation to the students. The day Gene Kranz presented to moon rock to Central Catholic was the first day Mrs. Domitio returned to work after her husband died.  

“I attended the Kranz assembly and received a strong nudge from above,” Mrs. Domitio recalls. “The idea of space exploration appealed to me personally, but that day I truly felt the force. I wanted to be involved, so Kim Hoffman (CCHS librarian) asked me to create the Power Point presentation. I began to do some extensive research about women and their contributions to flight and the space program. These women had the passion and determination to try to be the first women on the moon. Even though they did not accomplish their goal, I identified with their struggle. Their accomplishments are worth sharing and celebrating today. The presentation was my effort to inspire women to feel the force within them and to find their passion.”

Sloan Eberly, the education programs manager from COSI Toledo, addressed the students next. Since COSI closed in December, Ms. Eberly has been doing outreach programs at schools and community centers. She demonstrated the process of heating and cooling a space shuttle tile donated by NASA, and she presented several interesting experiments involving liquid nitrogen.

Finally, Jordan Rhodes, an engineering major at the University of Michigan and a member of the CCHS Class of 2005, spoke about her interest in science since childhood when she took her toys apart to see how they worked. She spoke of her research projects, research opportunities and her involvement with WISE — Women in Science and Engineering. Ms. Rhodes will be moving to Indianapolis this summer and plans to obtain a mechanical engineering degree from Purdue University. She hopes to eventually work in plane design for Boeing or Lockheed Martin.

Ms. Rhodes also talked about the minority of women in engineering and how to deal with naysayers. 

“Central Catholic prepared me well academically and helped me to be well-rounded,” she said. “It helps in college if you find other women in the science fields and band together. People with the same values and interests can help support each other.”

Ms. Hoffman, the CCHS librarian who has taken an active role in planning activities for the Kranz SPACE Room, was very pleased with the inaugural event.  

“Gene Kranz gave CCHS the lunar sample to inspire future generations of explorers,” she says. “The luncheon was the first of many events in this mission of inspiring our students.”

The SPACE Room will soon undergo a design transformation thanks to a donation from Tom Clark, a 1952 Central Catholic graduate and friend of Mr. Kranz, who owns SFC Graphics in Toledo. His company will install graphics that will cover the walls of the room to continue the space theme.

Michele Jurek is communications coordinator at Toledo Central Catholic High School.