Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Fair
Atlanta Science Festival, Fernbank Science Center, March 18, 2019
A Job Fair for (Student) Astronauts
Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Fair makes its Atlanta Science Festival debut
“Tomorrow’s jobs are in space,” says astronaut teacher Mike Mongo
Space athlete, Space veterinarian, Space YouTuber, even Space Fortnite will be listed as some of career opportunities presented this year at the debut of Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Fair as a feature event of the 2019 Atlanta Science Festival, 8am-4-pm, March 18 at DeKalb County School District’s Fernbank Science Center.
The day-long feature event will take some one hundred of Atlanta’s top STEAM-directed young students through training geared to instill actual career building skills while engaging with a staff of top Space industry professionals. Middle-grade age students will start early and finish that afternoon after an intense full-day of Space STEAM career training exercises and talks. Lunch and snacks will be included.
STEAM, which stands for Science Technology Engineering Arts (and) Mathematics, is one of the most popular drivers of student interest in tech and science fields with today’s teachers and educators. And according to Mike Mongo, astronaut teacher and director of Astronaut Job Fair, many of those STEAM jobs will be in Space.
“When I share with grownups “tomorrow’s jobs are in space,” I face outright skepticism,” says Mongo, “When I explain to young students that tomorrow’s jobs are in space–and they can even invent the jobs they want–it’s open enthusiasm and excitement. They feeling is as if I just gave them actual tickets to be on the next spaceship out. And in a way that’s what we’re doing with Astronaut Job Fair: The Space industry is now a lot more than governmental Space agencies–it’s SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Blue Origin, Planet, and more.”
Mongo, author of the best-selling children’s book, The Astronaut Instruction Manual, wants today’s kids to know this so they don’t miss out on what he sees as the opportunity of a lifetime: Space. “Our purpose with Astronaut Job Fair is to guarantee today’s students know they have been born at exactly the right time to live, work, and play in Space–and that information gives them a critical competitive advantage for all the Space jobs that will be open by the time they graduate from college. For today’s middle-grade students, that’s just ten years away!”
Joining Mongo will be a number of other Space industry luminaries: Director of the Mexican Civil Space Agency Juan José Díaz Infante, NASA Solar System Ambassador David Lockett, Satellite Industry Association’s Therese Jones. “Among others, too,” adds Mongo, “We are have some pretty big surprises for our Atlanta Science Festival debut.”
Inclusion and diversity are two important facets of Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Fair’s outreach to students, which makes the day a stand-out event for future Space STEAM superstars. With inclusion, diversity, and equity being central to the Astronaut Job Fair’s “space is for everybody” ethos, teacher/educator-recommended STEAM Scholar’s Choice Awards are to be granted to at least a third of the full-day event’s one hundred attendees. Awardees will be bestowed scholarships for the event’s $25 ticket price. The AJF’s STEAM Scholar’s Award recommendation form can be found here.
With traditional Space operators such as NASA and Lockheed-Martin, “New Space” operators like Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic, and popular Space NGO’s such as Yuri’s Night, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), and Icarus Interstellar all lending support, Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Fair is certain to be one of the hot-ticket feature events of the 2019 Atlanta Science Festival.
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To learn more about Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Fair,
visit astronautjobfair.org.
For tickets for Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Fair,
visit atlantasciencefestival.org.
For more information about Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Fair,
contact Mike Mongo at ajf@astronautjobfair.org.
For more information about Atlanta Science Festival,
contact Meisa Salaita at meisa@atlantasciencefestival.org.
