Challenger Space Shuttle Crew Remembered On 25th Anniversary

Oneida County, NY (WIBX) - Twenty-five years ago today, the nation lost 7 crew members on board the space shuttle Challenger. One of the astronauts was Gregory B. Jarvis, a Mohawk native.

Jarvis and the other Challenger crew members were honored at a school named after him, and Principle Cynthia Stocker said there was a moment of silence to remember their service to the country. She said administrators are also working to do something new this year with the scholarship. "Since this happened there's been a scholarship--one for a boy and one for a girl of each graduating class that are going into Math or Science. This has never been displaced anywhere--the names of the kids who have gotten that scholarship." Stocker said her Tech teacher is working on a plaque right now that will have the name plates of all the students who have received the scholarship.

Stocker said every year the school marks the anniversary of the Challenger tragedy and continue to keep the memory of Jarvis alive. She said she hopes students understand that Jarvis was a typical student--in many ways, just like they are. The school depicts a mural of the Challenger and its crew members, a gift from the class of 2007, that marked the 20th anniversary. Also, the school has two show cases that Stocker says serves as a museum that exhibits some of the items that tell the story of the NASA crew, including the tragic explosion of Challenger.