This year’s Advanced Studies Program session (our 67th!) is coming to a close this week. Here at Ohrstrom Library, we have enjoyed hosting various Writing Workshop classes, the Law and Governance voting booths, and, of course, the many students using the library’s resources during study hours every night.
These students are about the become ASP alum and we couldn’t be prouder. As current ASP Director Michelle Taffe, herself an ASP alum, recently wrote: “In today’s social, political, and environmental climate, your community and the world need curious minds, big thinkers, and active citizens”. Which got us thinking about all our ASP alum out there – from astronauts to politicians to writers – making real contributions to the world.
One ASP artifact I found recently illustrates this thought nicely: an ASP banner that flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1993 with ASP alum Rick Searfoss ’73. Yes – you read that right – this banner went to space! And Searfoss is not the only alum that has left Earth’s orbit. Searfoss and Rick Linnehan ’74 completed two missions together, first in 1996 on the Space Shuttle Atlantis and again in 1998 on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Which makes us eager to see what this new batch of ASP alums will do – we can’t wait to find out!
If you are interested in learning more about the history of ASP, check out our Archives Short: Summer in New Hampshire: St. Paul’s Advanced Studies Program.
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