Jonathan Eisner 8/26/13 Literacy Narrative

NASA
The stereotypical vision people have when thinking of how others begin their take-off into literacy is that they are taught to read and write by their parents or in a kindergarten class. Now, in a simple way, this does commonly happen for many people. However, the true nature in which one obtains their literacy is often much more complex than that. Many of those people are, indeed, taught how to read and write their language in that manner. Nevertheless, it is when one truly learns to use that understanding to open new doors to knowledge that they have begun their voyage through literacy. While many of us, including myself, were taught how to read and write by our families and schools, we all had one specific person, place, or thing that inspired us to actually obtain our literacy a literacy sponsor (Deborah Brandt). For me, my literacy sponsor was institutional and material. It was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - N.A.S.A. The first book I ever read was The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. After days and days of being lectured by my sister on how to read, my four-year-old self finally overcame this endeavor. Even though my sister was the first literary sponsor in my life, nothing had a more significant impact on my literacy than N.A.S.A. Since the day that I could first remember, my room was filled with N.A.S.A. related items. There were posters and banners of space shuttles all over my room. I was raised in a time when N.A.S.A.s Shuttle Program had a strong influence on many of the nations young minds. I adored space and spacecraft. They were my passions. I loved going to Magic Kingdom and Epcot as a child, but my favorite place to visit was always Kennedy Space Center. I was fascinated by the models of aerospace technology that I saw there. I especially loved the freeze-dried ice cream, but thats irrelevant. I was so engulfed by my own awe towards the shuttles and other spacecraft that I desired to learn more about them. This was how N.A.S.A. became the first and most significant institutional sponsor in my life. The reason that I classify N.A.S.A. as an institutional sponsor is mainly that it used Kennedy Space Center to educate people on its history, purpose, and goals. At Kennedy Space Center, I began to learn from the educational exhibits. The models of shuttles, rovers, and astronauts showed me how these technologies worked. I would watch the video clips of astronauts walking on the moon and in the International Space Station with much lower gravity than Earth. I began to learn about many astronomical and cosmological terms, but I wanted to learn more. I now knew about the technology and the space programs, but I was curious as to why they wanted to explore space; what outer space was; and what was found in it. This led to the beginning of N.A.S.A. being a material sponsor to me.

Still before I was even in Kindergarten, I was learning many things from N.A.S.A. One day, though, a major change was made to my life. It was the day that I decided that I wanted to read about space specifically. Luckily for me, there were many astronomy and N.A.S.A. books available. I would get some from my dad and some from the library also important literacy sponsors in my life. I remember the first two planet books I borrowed from the library. One was about Saturn and one was about the planet that my younger sister and next door neighbor would constantly laugh about; the planet that I desired to learn about as to why it was so funny: Uranus. I hoped that the book would enlighten me as to why the planet was so funny to other people. It took a few years before I understood the humor, ironically. I wanted to know everything about these other worldly places. I was shocked to see how much existed outside of Earth. I would just sit around all day reading books about planets, the solar system, and N.A.S.A. It was a challenge at first, even with the childrens versions of the books. This didnt stop me though. I eventually became a quick and frequent non-fiction reader. Once I entered Kindergarten, I was reading at a higher level than most of the kids in my class because of this. I eventually would increase the difficulty in the books I was deciding to read by getting more complex books. Books about black holes and other galaxies. I often became confused by them, but I still tried to understand them as much as I could. I didnt enjoy fiction. I was a big non-fiction and science enthusiast. I never lost my interest in N.A.S.A. or space, but it was not as prominent in my life during my middle school and early high school years. In my sophomore year, I became fascinated by anatomy and medical studies. I was in my schools H.O.S.A. program and wanted to be an Orthopedic Surgeon one day. This phase slowly died as junior year came. Junior year A.P. U.S. History made me aspire to be a historian. This too passed quickly as senior year came. In my senior year, I originally was into politics and comparative government. However, my physics class started to spark my interest in space back up. This time, though, it reemerged with a much larger strength. I began to follow N.A.S.A. again with the updates from the Mars Curiosity Rover. I also began to research astrophysics, cosmology, astronomy, and physics for my own interest as often as I could. I realized that calculus and mathematics were very useful to these fields. This led me to deeply desiring to learn about calculus (which I still havent, sadly). Once again, N.A.S.A. was leading me to enhance my literacy in many ways. Due to the fact that my interest in space and N.A.S.A. became less prominent in my life up until the middle and end of senior year, I lost my desire to work for N.A.S.A. one day. I was originally going to attend Florida Atlantic University for a Political Science major, because it was close to my house and I just wasnt motivated to pursue any other college. Once N.A.S.A. came back into my life, I realized that the one thing that I truly wanted to do with my life was contribute to space technology, exploration, or research. I came to realize that a degree in Aerospace Engineering was something I really wanted. I would learn about the physics aspect of my interests but could also apply it to helping human space technology. FAU did not offer the major, though. It was too late for me to apply to the University of Florida or Florida State University, but not the University of Central Florida or the University of South Florida. Then it became clear to me: USF doesnt offer aerospace and is irrelevant to life. I was determined to go to UCF for Aerospace, even if it required many loans. So I applied.

Fortunately, I got accepted to UCF, even after applying very late. Many of the people at the school seem to fit into my shoes almost perfectly. It is a big engineering school and many of the people I have met have also been deeply inspired by N.A.S.A. Every time I wear my N.A.S.A. shirt, I get at least three compliments from random students. It is a school that I fit into well and would love to obtain an engineering degree from. I eventually changed my major to mechanical engineering after I got accepted. I did this so that I could have a broader range of work for the industry while still learning much about aerospace, since they are similar in some ways. If N.A.S.A. had not been my literacy sponsor since a young age, I would be missing out on what I find to be the most fascinating topic possible for me and an education focus that I am very enthusiastic to obtain. Many peoples most significant literacy sponsors werent the typical listed ones, but are the ones that influence their literacy and lives the most. This is what N.A.S.A. did for me.

Citations

Brandt, Deborah. "Sponsors of Literacy." College of Composition and Communicatoin49.2 (1998): n. pag. Print