Months of hard work bringing together students, scientists and filmmakers all paid off on Wednesday, May 10 with the premiere of the documentary “Impacts on the Future” at the Alamo Draft House Cinema in Westminster.
To mark the event, the red carpet was rolled out to celebrate the achievement.
The documentary was created by Westminster High School Video Cinema Arts and Aerospace students in collaboration with NASA. It tells the story of the students' partnership with NASA as scientists conduct high altitude research on winter weather patterns.
“We had incredible students who worked on this project,” said Chris Williams, Video Cinema Arts Instructor who oversaw the production. Along with Robbie Ferguson, Project Lead the Way Engineering/Aerospace Teacher, students traveled to NASA facilities in California and Virginia. They also flew aboard a high-altitude research plane that took them on an eight-hour flight.
The project was only possible because of the participation of NASA scientist Vidal Salazar who took a special interest in Westminster Public Schools and its students. Salazar told the audience that as a young boy in Mexico, he dreamed of someday working for NASA and hard work and belief in himself made it happen. “This next generation is the one that is going to take us to Mars and beyond,” he said. “I want to keep doing this and open it to even more students.”
According to NASA, the information gathered during the research efforts, “will improve meteorological models and the ability to predict snowfall so that cities can better prepare for severe winter weather.”
